Ukraine's star female tennis player Elina Svitolina has refused to play with the Russian player. Svitolina has said that she is going to prefer to withdraw from the Monterrey Open rather than playing with a Russian player. She has said she will play with players from Russia or Belarus only if tennis's governing body is about to recognise them as "neutral athletes" following the recommendations of the International Olympic Committee.
Svitolina wrote on Twitter on Monday that she does not want to play her opening round competition against Anastasia Potapova and is not going to play any other match against any Russian or Belarusian tennis players until the WTA Women's Tour, the ATP Men's Tour and the International Tennis Federation follow the IOC's recommendations. She wrote, "I'm not blaming any Russian athlete. They are not responsible for the invasion of our motherland."
The war between Russia and Ukraine, which has been going on for the last 5 days, is increasing even more. The Russian army is engaged in an effort to capture major cities of Ukraine by advancing rapidly. At the same time, Ukraine is also facing it with full force. In the ongoing fierce war between the two, there is a huge loss of life and property and the migration of people is also going on on a large scale. Earlier on Monday, Svitolina said she would donate her prize money from the WTA tournament to help support the Ukrainian military and humanitarian efforts after Russia's invasion of her country last week.
FIFA gives a strong blow to Russia, pulls it out of 2022 Football World Cup
