Iga Sviatek is on a competitive hiatus after being forced to withdraw from the WTA 1000 tournament in Miami. Answering the questions of BBC journalists about the acceptance of athletes from Russia and Belarus to world tennis, the Pole says that white sports lost the opportunity to send a powerful message to Moscow.

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Iga Svyatek believes that Russians and Belarusians should have been banned from tennis since the beginning of the war in Ukraine

Svyatek believes that tennis should have sent a message against the war in Ukraine as clearly as possible, and this would be synonymous with a complete ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes from participating in world competitions.

Wimbledon organizers bowed to pressure and accepted players from Russia and Belarus for the 2023 Grand Slam at the All England Club. Everything will be done under a neutral flag.

“We are just athletes, a small piece of the world, but sports are very important and have always been used for propaganda.

“Tennis could have become a little better from the very beginning, showing everyone that tennis players are against the war,” he says Iga Svyatek in an interview with the BBC.

“Tennis didn’t really go that way, but now it would be quite unfair for the Russian and Belarusian players to do that, because this decision (without a total ban on tournaments) should have been made a year ago.

It is not their fault that they have such a passport, their situation is quite complicated and it is difficult for them to talk about it out loud.

On the other hand, we all have some influence and anything will help stop Russian aggression. We have to go in this direction in terms of the decisions made by the federations,” he added holidayquoted by Agerpres.

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