PARIS, March 1, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - The top-ranked Ukranian woman tennis

player Elina Svitolina on Monday said she would refuse to play Russian and
Belarusian tennis players in tournaments.

   She also criticised the governing bodies of tennis, shortly after two of
her compatriots aimed a swing at the WTA when they criticised the
organisation for not taking a position on the Russian invasion of their
country.

   Svitolina, ranked 15th in the world, is the top seed in the WTA tournament
in Monterrey where she is drawn to play Russian Anastasia Potapova in her
first match. Two other Russians, Kamilla Rakhimova and Anna Kalinskaya, are
also in the draw.

   "I want to announce that I will not play in Monterrey, nor any other
match, against Russian or Belarusian tennis players until our organizations
take the necessary actions," Svitolina wrote on Twitter.

   "I do not blame Russian athletes," she wrote. "I wish to pay tribute to
all players, especially Russians and Belarusians, who bravely stated their
position against the war. Their support is essential."

   But, she wrote, the governing bodies of men's (ATP), women's and
international (ITF) tennis needed to act.

   "I believe the current situation requires a clear position from our
organizations: ATP, WTA and ITF," she said.

   Svitolina was echoing two other Ukrainians, Marta Kostyuk, ranked 54th in
the world, and Lesia Tsurenko, a former top-25 player now ranked 127, who
both posted a letter on social media expressing "our great surprise and
dissatisfaction with the lack of any response with the situation in our
Motherland".

   "It is especially strange that in prior cases of social justice and sexual
harassment the response of the WTA was prompt, appropriate and bold," they
wrote.

   "We demand that WTA immediately condemn the Russian government, pull all
tournaments out of Russia and approach the ITF to do the same."

   - 'Follow IOC guidance' -

   They urged the WTA to "follow the guidance of the IOC", which has called
for a sporting ban on Russia.

   But Kostyuk and Tsurenko stopped short of calling for a ban on Russian
players.

   "We fully support our colleagues from Russia and any Russian-speaking
tennis player as we understand the unprovoked attacks happened without their
knowledge and participation."

   "Stop the War. Stop Russian aggression. Bring Peace to our homes. Be
HUMAN," they concluded.

   The WTA did on Monday tweet a video of Ukrainian sisters Dayana and Ivanna
Yastremska taking the court for a doubles match in Lyon.

   "Sending love back home," said the WTA caption.

   The pair lost 6-2, 6-4 to Spaniard Georgina Garcia-Perez and Xenia Knoll
of Switzerland.

   Dayana said her family had needed to shelter from bombs underground last
week, before her and her 15-year-old sister embarked on a tiring journey to
France, leaving their parents behind in Ukraine.

   "We were woken up by bombs," the 21-year-old, who said she went three
nights without sleep, told a press conference. "We didn't realise or
understand what was going on... It was crazy...

   "My father told me 'I don't know how everything will end, but you have to
take care of each other. You have to build your new life'."

   Yastremska said they travelled away from Odessa by car, before eventually
crossing the Danube by boat to reach Romania.

   On Sunday, the Ukrainian tennis federation wrote to the European Tennis
Federation and the International Tennis Federation demanding they expel
Russia and Belarus.