‘Deserves Our Greatest Respect’- Olympian Lauds Elina Svitolina for Her Stance Over Russia-Ukraine Conflict

Elina Svitolina is a Ukrainian tennis player who has raised her voice addressing the on-going Russia-Ukraine conflict. The player had made her stance clear on Wimbledon banning Russian and Belarusian athletes from competing this year. There were diverse voices coming out from the whole controversy and legendary Pole vaulter Sergey Bubka supported Svitolina’s take in an interview recently.

Sergey Bubka in support of Elina Svitolina 

Elina Svitolina shared the tweet of Sergey Bubka on her Instagram story. Sergey Bubka is an Olympic champion and praised the clear stance of the Ukrainian player.

He tweeted, “@ElinaSvitolina is an Olympian and outstanding Ukrainian athlete. She deserves our greatest respect and admiration. We support every athlete who is taking a stance in favor of peace and against the war.”

Elina’s take on the Wimbledon ban

Elina Svitolina supported Wimbledon’s move to ban the Russian and Belarusian players from playing. High-profile players like Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic showed their discontent towards this move by Wimbledon.

They believe that politics should stay out of sports. However, Svitolina believes otherwise as she has accepted the fact that she has not been able to focus on tennis because of the developments in her country.

Other former Ukrainian players like Alexandr Dolgopolov and Sergiy Stakhovsky have also made their points of view clear. They also believe that everyone should ban Russian players from competing.

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What the WTA, ATP, and the French Open organizations think of the whole issue?

WTA and ATP continue to allow the Russian players to play but under the condition of them maintaining their neutrality. Recently, Roland Garros’ director also made a similar stance, where she introduced the need to add sanctions if the terms of neutrality are violated.

Elina Svitolina did not have a great start to the year. She lost the openers at the Indian Wells and Miami Open. After that, she announced a break from tennis and made it public that she suffers mentally because of the on-going turmoil. The Ukrainian star is set to miss out on the whole clay season and there’s no assurance of her playing in the grass-court season as well.

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