Marta noted that there was no consensus among Ukrainian tennis players on the model of behavior with athletes from aggressor countries
Ukrainian tennis player Marta Kostyuk believes that athletes from Russia and Belarus should have been completely excluded from international sports.
“In fact, this neutrality is not present. After the start of the full-scale invasion, I was repeatedly offered to participate in exhibition matches in a team with or against the Russians or Belarusians. I refused.”
“Because of cases like this, all these athletes are complaining that they are being discriminated against, in fact they are discriminating against us. Honestly, over these two years, a lot of trash has happened in the leadership of our WTA, and we have heard a lot of different things.”
“I believe that we initially chose the wrong tactics. Unfortunately, our management didn’t help us much either. Although, in any case, representatives of these countries have no place in sports. It’s just that if we had acted a little differently, then perhaps we would have been able to achieve the complete disqualification of these athletes.”
“When the war started, everyone was in different emotional states. Some were in shock, some were afraid, some were in panic. Personally, I didn’t care. I was ready to say everything I could in an interview and bury everyone there. I didn’t have any fear because I thought I was doing everything right.”
“At some point we simply did not agree on the tactics that needed to be followed. Everything happened in just two days. One or two and that’s it. But we just weren’t together. Everyone stood his ground and believed that his opinion was correct. We did not find a compromise.”
Marta will play at the WTA 1000 tournament in American Indian Wells, where she will start from the second round. The Ukrainian’s opponent in the first match will be Mai Hontama from Japan.
Source: Sportarena
I’m Rose Brown , a journalist and writer with over 10 years of experience in the news industry. I specialize in covering tennis-related news for Athletistic, a leading sports media website. My writing is highly regarded for its quick turnaround and accuracy, as well as my ability to tell compelling stories about the sport.
