Ukrainian tennis player Lesia Tsurenko announced that she was suing the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), claiming that the governing body did not provide her with sufficient support during the psychological problems she experienced in 2023.
"Even in my worst nightmares, I could not imagine that the place I considered my home would become a terrifying place whose CEO knowingly committed an act of psychological abuse against me, causing a panic attack and the inability to do my job," Tsurenko wrote on social media.
The case concerns her withdrawal from Indian Wells in 2023 because she did not want to play against Belarusian Arina Sabalenko, more than a year after the start of the Russian aggression against Ukraine.
She then stated:
"A few days ago I spoke with WTA CEO Steve Simon and I was absolutely shocked by what I heard. He also told me that he himself is against the war, and if Russian or Belarusian athletes support it, that is their opinion and that it should not bother others."
The WTA stressed that it had "condemned Russia's war against Ukraine from the very beginning" and had "taken numerous measures to assist Ukrainian competitors."
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, no Russian or Belarusian athlete has officially supported the war, and Ukrainian tennis players and tennis players refuse to shake hands with athletes from Russia and Belarus.
Curenko also stated that it was "time to tell the truth" about the 2023 event and announced that she had initiated legal proceedings "at the end of last year."
"Pain, fear, panic attacks, humiliation, hidden information, pressure on my team to keep quiet... and that's not a complete list of what I suffered. The WTA refused to protect a woman, a tennis player, a human being. Instead, it chose to protect a person in a position of power," said Tsurenko.
She added that the only thing left for her "is to defend herself and her dignity."
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