Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk Wants Russian And Belarusian Tennis Players Banned
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Ukrainian No. 1 Marta Kostyuk has passionately argued that Russian and Belarusian players should be banned from the WTA and ATP Tours because of Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine.
Next month will mark three years since Russia launched its illegal invasion of Ukraine's sovereign territory. Since then, the Ukrainians have ferociously and bravely defended their country against the aggression.
The ATP and WTA responded to Russia's actions by having Russian and Belarusian players compete under neutral banners. Belarus is included because its government has given vociferous backing to Russia since its invasion.
However, the governing bodies of the men's and women's games have not taken additional measures, feeling it would be unfair to restrict players from those countries further because they did not cause the war.
That stance led to the ATP and WTA taking action when Wimbledon banned Russian and Belarusian players from competing at the historic tournament in 2022. The governing bodies did not award ranking points for that iteration of the grass-court Wimbledon.
WTA world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, who is Belarusian, recently argued that politics and sport should never mix and hopes that a consensus can be reached about that in the future after the last few years.
Ukrainian players disagree with Sabalenka. They might argue that Sabalenka would feel differently if her country was invaded. Elina Svitolina is among those who have repeatedly spoken about what Russia is doing to her country.
In a press conference at the Australian Open, Kostyuk gave her hardline views about Russian and Belarusians in tennis. Ukrainian players have not shaken hands with opponents from either country since the war broke out, and Kostyuk plans to continue that even when the war ends.
"I will definitely say while the war is going on there is no way we'll be shaking hands with them (Russian and Belarusan players). I cannot say what is going to be after war, I cannot say. I will personally not shake their hands for the rest of my career. This is my opinion on this."
Kostyuk compared tennis' treatment of the situation to athletics. In 2023, the International Olympic Committee suspended players with Russian and Belarusian passports, and last year's Australian Open quarterfinalist thinks similar steps should be taken in tennis.
"For me nothing's changed really, I look at other sports like athletics for example and these athletes aren't there. I'm just questioning myself why they're in tennis? What's so different about it? Why are they so privileged to be here and compete?"
"In my case I definitely didn't forget about the war. I didn't forget about it because my whole family is in Ukraine ... and they're in danger every single night and I was in Ukraine myself a couple of months ago, I woke up from explosions in the middle of the night."
The Ukrainian No. 1 does not know what will happen next in the war with a new U.S. president about to take office, but she thanked the reporter for asking about the subject to remind the public of what is happening in Ukraine.
"I think there's still a lack of understanding of what these countries are doing, they just don't fully get it and that's very unfortunate because it's very close to Europe. It's much closer than everyone thinks so I don't know how things will turn around right now with a new president and everything, nobody knows what's going on."
"My position hasn't changed, thank you for your question, because I think it should be reminded again."
