Ukrainian Tsurenko suffered a “panic attack” before playing

Moments before having to jump to the center court of Indian Wells, the tournament was announced that the Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko did not make an appearance, that the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka She went directly to the third round of this WTA 1000.

The official reason for the absence of Tsurenko, 33 years old and world number 95, was “personal reasons”. Gone. The Ukrainian played a few weeks ago against Russian players, eliminating the possibility of a boycott by Russians and Belarusians due to Russia’s invasion of their country from February 2023.

Since then, Tsurenko has withdrawn from a tournament on a dozen occasions. Mostly, for physical things. Although in Indian Wells it was not like that. He himself gave more explanations to a specialized media in his country, Tennis Big of Ukraine.

“It was a panic attack. Officially they are for personal reasons, but in fact I had respiratory problems. You could say it was hysteria,” he explained.

The reason? It was related to the war, although there was direct criticism of the WTA president, who was in charge of the women’s professional circuit. He said this picture of distress came after a conversation from days gone by was digested Steve Simon about the WTA’s response to what Ukraine is going through.

“I was surprised by what I heard. He told me that he is against the war but that whether Russian or Belarusian tennis players support it is a personal opinion, and other people’s decisions should not interfere to me,” Tsurenko announced.

“I really hope I can digest all this information and be better prepared for the next tournament,” she said. This happened before he defeated the Croatian in the second round Donna Vekicwho denied him the congratulations in the net because he understood that he had a fake injury in the match.

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He also announced that tennis players in Ukraine have requested an urgent meeting with the WTA Board of Directors to discuss the issue.

The WTA, the men’s ATP and the International Federation (ITF) allow Russians and Belarusians to compete without a flag, they do not represent their country, which is not included in tournaments for teams such as Davis cup wave Billie Jean King Cup. This happens in all categories and modalities of this sport.

Wimbledon vetoed the Russians and Belarusians in the 2022 edition, though andy murray He slipped that he may not repeat this proposal in 2023. Although the All England Club has not yet stated publicly one way or the other.