Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova won't be playing at the 2023 Prague Open in the Czech Republic after not being able to enter the country.
News about a Russian player being denied entry into the Czech Republic quickly made rounds on social media. The reason is rather simple - Russians and Belarusians are not permitted to take part in sporting events on the soil of the Czech Republic in response to the Invasion of Ukraine.
It was a blow to a few players from those countries that were officially on the entry list for the WTA 250 event, and one of those is Pavlyuchenkova. She had hoped to play at the event, but she won't after being denied entry into the country, which she confirmed on social media.
Hi guys! As you saw the previous post, i will not be able to participate in Prague next week. I continue my preparation on hard courts for Us Series now. See you in Cincinnati and US Open.
In response to the news, the WTA swiftly released a statement pledging support for players in navigating these complex geopolitical issues. There is not much they can do because the ban didn't come from the event but rather from the country, which is different from the Wimbledon one.
The Czech Republic has the full right to enforce any kind of decision on their own soil, and the WTA can do very little to impact that. It's the second instance in a very short time that a Russian was denied entry, as Vera Zvonareva was turned away when she landed in Warsaw recently.
The WTA released a statement regarding that as well but ultimately nothing happened because again, it's within their right. Time will tell if more of these bans will be coming, but it's highly unlikely to happen.
0 Comments