The ban on Russian and Belarusian players have been circling the tennis world for some time now and Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina is no stranger to running away from wanting the same.
The ban placed on players hailing from Russia and Belarus came into force after the Russia-Ukraine conflict swarmed heavily throughout the globe and agitated the public over the disgraceful acts of Moscow.
Most recently, Elina Svitolina advocated her strong belief in placing a permanent ban on players originating from countries involved in the conflict.
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In a statement Elina provided on Friday, the Ukrainian stated her willingness to get players barred from competing in major tournaments in conclusion to their ban from participating in Wimbledon last year.
The decision however caught the public eye with not everyone satisfied with the ITF’s verdict including Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic and former American tennis professional Martina Navratilova.
Svitolina’s swiftly provided her fortified and conclusive statement for wanting a permanent ban on Russian and Belarusian players due to her belief that nothing has changed since last year to revert the ITF’s decision and there isn’t enough reason present to change things this season.
Quoting herself to BBC on Friday, Elina Svitolina said “I hope they will do the same thing and keep the ban in place. I don’t think it should change. There are still people suffering and still Russian soldiers killing innocent Ukrainians. The war is still there. The decision should not be any different.”
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The decision however might not turn in favour of the Ukrainian, lately, because the US Open, Rolland Garros and Australian Open authorities permitted Russian and Belarusian players to compete in the championship as neutrals and administered strict guidelines for them to not compete with any association with their respective countries.
Elina’s comments were not immediately responded to by the Wimbledon authorities and the decision remains pending ahead of the championship’s kickoff later this year. It is yet unclear whether The All England Club will continue to place resistance for Russian and Belarusian players like last year.
The 28-year-old got married to fellow French tennis professional Gael Monfils who is known for his mastery over tricks shots that have amazed spectators over the years of his ATP tour.
The Russian-Belarusian scandal was witnessed at the Australian Open 2023
The recently held Australian Open 2023 also became a victim of the Russian-Belarusian conflict which spectators and the global tennis community alike made a stronghold against.
With only a few days into the championship, Melbourne park saw itself being agitated by the unethical and “inappropriate” behaviour of 4 people who hoisted Russian flags with President Vladimir Putin’s face on the steps of the Rod Laver Arena.
The people involved in the scandal were immediately taken away by the Victoria Police for questioning which sparked comments wanting to ban such behaviour from the Grand Slam’s grounds for good.
Just took a walk around Melbourne Park after filing and a group of people were standing on the Rod Laver Arena steps, holding up a flag with Vladimir Putin’s face and chanting in support of Russia. pic.twitter.com/2p0LfkyVC3
— Tumaini Carayol (@tumcarayol) January 25, 2023
The details of the Melbourne drama were however not disclosed by the Australian Open authorities but it was known for a fact that any misconduct as such was unequivocally and irrationally banned from the championship.
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