World’s best tennis player slammed circuit for stance on war: ‘It would have helped stop aggression’

the Polish Iga Swiateknumber one in the world, has expressed his opinion on the Russia-Ukraine War and assured that tennis should have done better, sending a stronger message by banning Russians and Belarusians from playing. Furthermore, he compared the current situation with what happened with German, Italian and Japanese tennis players after Second World War.

While he believes the situation in Russia is not the athletes’ fault, he clarified in an in-depth interview with the British channel BBC that sport is very important also because historically it is “used as propaganda”.

I have heard and read it after WWII neither Germans nor Japanese nor Italians were allowed to play and I think this sort of thing would prove to the Russian government that it might not be worth it. I know it’s a small part, because we’re just athletes, but I think sport is very important and it’s always been used as propaganda,” she analyzed.

In this sense, the 21-year-old believed that “tennis, from the beginning, could have done a little better when it comes to showing everyone that tennis players are against war.” the atmosphere is quite tense”, he elaborated.

At the same time supported the Russian tennis player Daria Kasatkina Why “at first he openly said he was against the war and that his dream would be for the war to end.” “That’s something I respect a lot, because I think it’s brave that Russian athletes say that. Their situation is quite complicated and sometimes it’s difficult for them to talk about it openly,” he explained.

In April last year, Wimbledon was the only tournament that didn’t allow Russian and Belarusian players to enter, resulting in heavy financial penalties. up to 2 million eurosby the big tennis organizations.

This year, the third Grand Slam of the season has been canceled and will allow players of these nationalities to play as long as they do so under neutral flagas in the rest of the tournaments on the circuit.

“This is something that was considered early on. Tennis wasn’t really going that way, but now it would be quite unfair for Russian and Belarusian players to do it because this decision was supposedly made a year ago and it’s not these players’ fault that they have a Russian or Belarusian passport.” he said about the bans.

“Now it would be unfair to do that, because the decision should have been made a year ago. But I think it would have helped stop the Russian aggression“, concluded the Pole.