Stakhovsky: All Russians should be collectively responsible for the war

The former tennis player in Ukraine spoke about the removal of athletes from the aggressor country from participating in Wimbledon.

Russian athletes should be excluded from competitions, as there should be collective responsibility for the war unleashed by the Putin regime. This was stated in an interview with XSport by former Ukrainian tennis player Serhiy Stakhovsky.

According to him, the Russians should feel the pain felt by the Ukrainians until there is a collective epiphany.

“In fact, tennis is a relatively separate institution as a sport. We have several, say, governing bodies – it’s ATF, Grand Slams (each with its own federation) and, of course, ATP and WTA. When many cover the bodies that close tennis, then, of course, there are different opinions and it is very easy, say, to be passive about this topic.

In fact, when even our leaders in the Asia-Pacific Region first asked me what my attitude was towards tennis players, I said that here it is necessary to isolate each athlete. But it was in the first week of the war, when I was sure and convinced that if the Russians saw what was happening in our country, what their army was doing, the bullying and destruction they were bringing, then their image will change and they. has something to do with it.

When this epiphany did not come, I realized that there must be a collective responsibility on the part of all Russians, as well as athletes. Good, bad – it makes no difference, they should all feel the pain that Ukrainians feel, sitting in bomb shelters or dying under a bomb.

I spoke to the director of competitions in Australia three weeks ago, two weeks ago I spoke to the director of competitions at Wimbledon and they asked me the same thing: “What is my attitude to this situation?” . And I told them what I said today, if at first I was willing to accept some kind of neutral status or simple calls for “No war!”, Now I’m not ready for it.

And when I saw what the Russian army was doing, bullying, the number of dead, I was not ready for a neutral status. They are completely against and do not support, or they are allies and supporters of the Putin regime, ”Stakhovsky said.

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