The former holder of the 3rd place in the WTA hierarchy, Elina Svitolina, believes that the organizers of Wimbledon should leave in force the disqualification imposed in 2022 on athletes from Russia and Belarus, and at this year’s edition.

Elina Svitolina wants to exclude athletes from Russia and Belarus from Wimbledon-2023

Athletes representing Russia and Belarus were not allowed to participate in the last Wimbledon because of the war that Vladimir Putin started against Ukraine.

“I hope they will do the same and keep the ban. I don’t think anything needs to be changed. People are still suffering and Russian soldiers are still killing innocent Ukrainians. This is still war. The decision should not be different,” said Elina Svitolina, quoted by Reuters.

Wimbledon is also the only Grand Slam tournament where athletes from Russia and Belarus have been banned. At Roland Garros, the US Open and the Australian Open, they were able to perform as neutral athletes.

28-year-old Svitolina is currently not participating in WTA tournaments, she gave birth to a girl a few months ago. Currently, the Ukrainian ranks 374th in the world ranking.

Who is Elina Svitolina?

At the age of 28, Elina reached the 3rd place in the WTA ranking on September 11, 2017. During that time, she won 16 WTA titles and has a career record of 433 wins and 228 losses. He collected $21,418,949 in tennis prizes alone.

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