According to the vice-president of the FTU, some Ukrainian tennis players put their personal interests above team ones.
Vice President of the Tennis Federation of Ukraine Evgeny Zukin commented on the letter of well-known Ukrainian tennis players demanding that he be fired.
“The motives of the signatories are not exactly known to me. Most likely, other people are behind this, and athletes are just a tool. This letter was a big surprise for me. There are people who want to solve their own problems during the war. I consider it immoral. All of these accusations are slander in the classical sense,” Zukin said.
“Captains determine the teams. After that, the players invited to the national teams put forward their financial requirements for participation in the match for the Ukrainian national team. If we find a financial compromise – they play, if we do not have the means to fulfill their requests – the captains invite others. That’s what happened the last time.”
“Some of the tennis players refused to play because of financial requests? Always someone refused to play because of the money. So it was this time. After all, during the war we are not able to pay the players fees. Who? I answered this question many times, and by the composition of the team you can see who was in the application, and then refused.
“What will be the result of this conflict? I believe that this question should be addressed to those who started this shame on the whole world of tennis. Our players decided that they are Ukrainian tennis. But they are only the top of a large pyramid, in which everyone understands how divorced they are from reality. This letter condemned the entire tennis community without exception. We will consult with the Presidium and the President on how the Federation will continue to build its relationship with these players (some have already retired). We have always been and will be open to dialogue.”
Earlier, the Tennis Federation of Ukraine admitted that all accusations against Zukin were unfounded.
Ukrainian tennis players demanded that Zukin be fired from his positions in the Ukrainian Tennis Federation, the ITF Davis Cup committee, the ITF referee position and the deprivation of any powers in the International Tennis Federation.
The letter was signed by: Elina Svetolina, Marta Kostyuk, Lesya Tsurenko, Katarina Zavatskaya, Lyudmila Kichenok, Nadezhda Kichenok, Sergey Stakhovsky, Ilya Marchenko. Subsequently, Katarina Zawatskaya withdrew her signature.
Such publication was condemned by Dayana Yastremskaya, captain of the Davis Cup team Andrey Medvedev, captain of the Billie Jean King Cup team Mikhail Filima.
Recall that Zukin, summing up the match between the Ukrainian team and the United States (2:3) in the Billie Jean King Cup, spoke negatively about some Ukrainian tennis players, who, in his opinion, refused to participate in the duel with the Americans.
The functionary said that he “hopes that Ukrainian tennis players will change their attitude towards playing for the national team and will be patriots not only on Instagram.”
Source: Sportarena
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