Ukrainian tennis player Lesya Tsurenko did not enter the third round match of the WTA1000 tournament in American Indian Wells against Belarusian Arina Sobolenko. The organizers announced the removal of the Ukrainian woman from the fight a few minutes before it started.. According to them, Tsurenko refused to play for " The very same Ukrainian woman in an interview with btu. org. ua said that the reason for the withdrawal of the match against the Belarusian was a panic attack. This happened because of her conversation with WTA CEO Steve Simon about the war that Russia, with the support of Belarus, continues to wage against Ukraine.. " Officially, " A few days ago I had a conversation with our WTA CEO Steve Simon and I was completely shocked by what I heard. He told me that he himself does not support the war, but if the players from Russia and Belarus support it, then this is only their own opinion, and the opinion of other people should not upset me. At the same time, he noted that if this happened to him and he was in my place, he would feel terrible.. In addition, he expressed confidence that the Russians and Belarusians would return to the Olympics, and said that this would happen exactly as it is happening now in tennis.. He also said that " It is the fact that they will perform at the Olympics that will show that these principles work, that everyone is equal and everyone has the opportunity to compete there.. When asked if he understood that he was telling me this during the active phase of Russia's military aggression in my country, he said yes, and this is his opinion. I was absolutely shocked by this conversation and already in the last game (against Donna Vekic - approx.. ) it was incredibly difficult to play, hard to get ready, and today, when it was time to go to the court, I had a panic attack and I just couldn’t go there. I really hope that I can digest all this information and be more ready for the next tournament," Tsurenko noted that she, along with other Ukrainian tennis players, requested a conversation with the WTA Board of Directors about Simon's words in this conversation.. " Everyone is also shocked.. We asked for a conference call with the WTA Board of Directors to raise the question of how a man like Steve Simon can be a leader in the WTA and what we should do about it.. How can we further understand that our organization somehow protects our rights. I just do not understand how it happened in this world that such things need to be explained.. It is very strange and very painful," Due to the refusal of the match against Sobolenko, who plays in the tournament in a neutral status, Tsurenko received a forfeit defeat.

At the Indian Wells competition, she started from qualification and reached the 1/16 finals for the first time since 2019 on these courts. Note that this is the first time that a tennis player or tennis player from Ukraine has been removed from a match against players from Russia or Belarus in 2023.. After the removal of Tsurenko at the tournament in Indian Wells, there are no more representatives of Ukraine. In the third round, Angelina Kalinina was eliminated, and even earlier, Dayana Yastremskaya (second round) and Marta Kostyuk (first round).