It’s been 400 days since Russia invaded Ukraine. While the war continues between the two countries, one tennis star thinks that the WTA should have done its part in the effort to stop the war by banning Russian tennis players.
Iga Swiatek, who is the world’s top women’s player, said that the WTA drop the ball by not banning Russian tennis stars when the war started.
“I heard that after World War II, German players were not allowed as well as Japanese and Italian, and I feel like this kind of thing would show the Russian government that maybe it’s not worth it,” the 21-year-old told the BBC.
Swiatek said the tour has become “chaotic” and that the WTA lacks leadership. Harsh words from the world’s No. 1, who also had this to say. “I feel like tennis, from the beginning, could do a bit better in showing everybody that tennis players are against the war,” she said via TMZ.
Although Swiatek has strong beliefs about this subject, she thinks it too let now for the WTA to go back and ban the players.
In 2022, Wimbledon was the only major tennis tournament to ban Russian and Belarusian players but they lifted that ban this year.
Some Russian tennis stars, like Daria Kasatkina, have previously spoken out against the war in Ukraine.
