The WTA released a statement regarding the latest development in Israel, affecting also many tennis players.
While the words of sports and politics don't interfere too much, we've seen recently that there are situations when tennis and politics interfere, and it's almost never for a good reason.
In November, the 2023 Tel Aviv Open should have been held in Israel, but the tournament had to be canceled and replaced. The reason is simple, and that's the fact that since October 7, 2023, there has been a war in Israel.
As a result, the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) recently issued a statement about the ongoing conflict in Israel. In the past, the WTA was many times accused of failing to release prompt statement on various situations, but this time around, they learned from their previous mistakes and released a statement quite fast.
On their official website, the WTA released a statement, condemning the acts of terrorism that occurred in the region in recent days.
"The WTA mourns the loss of innocent lives in Israel, grieves with those still searching for loved ones, and condemns the horrific acts of terrorism and violence in the region."
"We stand with our Israeli athletes -- and all WTA athletes including those from areas of conflict around the world. We pray for the recovery of the wounded, the healing of communities impacted, and peace in the region."
While the ATP 250 tournament was supposed to be held in Israel, currently, there are no WTA event supposed to be held in the country. However, there are many athletes from Israel competing on the WTA Tour, such as the country's highest ranked player, world no. 331, Lina Glushko, or world no. 767, Vlada Ekshibarova.