Ukrainian Player Fined By WTA After Father Missed E-mail While On Combat Mission
NewsSaturday, 10 May 2025 at 00:36
The WTA controversially fined and stripped a Ukrainian player of ranking points after unusual circumstances, including her father being on active military duty.
Oleksandra Oliynykova was the player involved in the controversy. She is the current world No. 274 and mainly competes at ITF and 125K or 100K tournaments in an attempt to climb the rankings as swiftly as possible.
The 24-year-old thought she had aided that goal by winning an ITF tournament in Santa Margherita. It was her seventh title overall and first since October, and the ranking points from it would have helped her considerably.
However, the WTA penalized Oliynykova for withdrawing late from the 125K event in Saint-Malo. That tournament generated headlines because Naomi Osaka won the first clay-court title of her career at it last week, rising in the rankings as a result.
After the entry deadline, Oliynykova was the 15th alternate on the list, but a slew of withdrawals occurred. That meant her withdrawal from the event came late and caused her an unfortunate problem.
Denys Oliynykov, the player's father, also acts as her manager. However, he was dispatched on a military assignment, and no mobile communication was allowed at the time the WTA sent an e-mail asking whether Oliynykova wanted to enter the Saint-Malo entry list or withdraw.
Oliynykov spoke about the situation to BTU. He mentioned the astronomically small odds of 14 players ahead of his daughter withdrawing, but that is what happened and led to Oliynykova having her prize money and ranking points from the event in Santa Margherita removed.
"I didn't withdraw her not out of negligence. We were considering the possibility of entering Saint-Malo as an on-site alternate. Two to three days before the tournament, players began withdrawing en masse. To this day, I still don't understand why that happened."
"In such cases, the WTA sends emails to alternates, offering them the choice to withdraw or remain on the entry list. As you can imagine, this situation is quite rare, and no one could have anticipated such emails. What are the odds that 15 players ahead of you would withdraw just two to three days before the tournament?"
When Oliynykov explained the circumstances surrounding why he did not reply to the e-mail, the WTA initially understood. However, Oliynykova and her father outlined how they were subsequently told that any player accepted into a WTA tournament's qualifying draw cannot play in an ITF event during the same week.
"I returned to an area with reception during the night, and the next day at 7:41 a.m. we wrote to the WTA explaining that, due to valid reasons (active duty in the Armed Forces), we were unable to respond earlier, and we requested that Sasha be withdrawn from the tournament. They replied: no problem, you are entitled to three late withdrawals without penalties."
"As soon as he saw the email, we contacted the WTA right away. It was before the draw and before matches started, so neither the organizers nor any other players were affected — and we followed the proper withdrawal procedure."
"It turned out that somewhere in the WTA rules, in very small print, it says that if a player has been accepted into the qualifying draw of a WTA 125 tournament and withdraws, they are not allowed to compete in an ITF event in the same week! The penalty: a monetary fine and removal of all ranking points earned at the tournament."
Oliynykov tried to convince the WTA to give his daughter a one-time amnesty or to only implement the fine without taking away ranking points, but the governing body has refused to do this.
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