Oleksandra Oliynykova won at Roland Garros, then spoke forcefully anew about the war at home in Ukraine and the complicity she sees among Russians on tour.
Just got this news alert right before my Bounces newsletter, as Russia plans its worst and most massive attack on Kyiv yet and warns foreign diplomats to leave:
**Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev mocks EU's refusal to pull diplomats from Kyiv**
**Medvedev, who is also a deputy chair of the Russian security council, said "the EU has said it will maintain its diplomatic presence in Kiev unchanged, despite Russia’s warnings. Well, apparently they’ve got diplomats to spare and need to trim the headcount."**
The fact that any international sport is allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete for the past four years is repulsive. Oliynykova, don't let up.
Update: It is really, really hard watching Oliy get trounced by Shnaider, a blatant Putin supporter. Bad day for Oliy; bad day for the WTA (for even allowing Shnaider to play given that she doesn't even pretend to be neutral).
Have any American players been asked about the girls school that was vaporized in a totally pre-planned tomahawk double-tap strike on the first day of the Iran war?
Really interesting story. I find her a very compelling person. I can’t truly imagine what I would be feeling were I in her position, beyond sadness and rage. She is far more eloquent and mature than I would be, without a doubt. Very nice that her father could be there.
I agree that it would be very interesting to know what Russian players truly think about the war. I’m guessing some (maybe most) don’t think about it much one way or another. I’m not defending that, but I would assume that, like most professional athletes, they live in a tight bubble focused on tennis and very little else. I also assume that most of them fear retribution were they to speak out. Again, I’m not saying that this is right. But I also don’t know that most Russian or Belarusian players are gung ho about the war. Of course, this is all almost total speculation on my part, and is probably partly or wholly off base. 😀
I just feel zero patience with the players who don't even live in Russia who are silent. Andreeva lives in Cannes; even at 19, after four years of the war, she should understand the optics of seeming to be a Putin fangirl (where is Conchita to advise her on this?)
I would be interested in a story that told us what the, say, top 100 Russian female and male players have said about the war. I feel more ambivalent about Belarusian athletes. There are currently and have not been Belarusian soldiers fighting Ukraine or Belarusian aerial attacks. And Belarusians did try very hard to overthrow Lukashenko in 2020.
Sabalenka could say a lot more but appears to be afraid of Lukashenko, which is baffling to me. He may be a monster but is he stupid enough to threaten the most famous athlete in Belarusian history if she spoke out more forcefully against the war?
Sabalenka seems to give the wrong answer regularly enough on most topics for me to conclude that she is just mostly wrong. Shame, as a fellow magnificent ‘browed person she should be my favourite.
We’ll never know for sure if the Russian players stay silent for fear of reprisals or cos they support the war. I’m sure *after* Putin is gone they’ll say it’s the former. As far as I know only Rublev has publicly stated he’s against.
But as someone else stated on here…there are other countries being aggressive..it’s the high number of Russian and Ukrainian players which makes this a bigger tennis issue I guess.
Just got this news alert right before my Bounces newsletter, as Russia plans its worst and most massive attack on Kyiv yet and warns foreign diplomats to leave:
**Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev mocks EU's refusal to pull diplomats from Kyiv**
**Medvedev, who is also a deputy chair of the Russian security council, said "the EU has said it will maintain its diplomatic presence in Kiev unchanged, despite Russia’s warnings. Well, apparently they’ve got diplomats to spare and need to trim the headcount."**
The fact that any international sport is allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete for the past four years is repulsive. Oliynykova, don't let up.
Update: It is really, really hard watching Oliy get trounced by Shnaider, a blatant Putin supporter. Bad day for Oliy; bad day for the WTA (for even allowing Shnaider to play given that she doesn't even pretend to be neutral).
Have any American players been asked about the girls school that was vaporized in a totally pre-planned tomahawk double-tap strike on the first day of the Iran war?
Really interesting story. I find her a very compelling person. I can’t truly imagine what I would be feeling were I in her position, beyond sadness and rage. She is far more eloquent and mature than I would be, without a doubt. Very nice that her father could be there.
I agree that it would be very interesting to know what Russian players truly think about the war. I’m guessing some (maybe most) don’t think about it much one way or another. I’m not defending that, but I would assume that, like most professional athletes, they live in a tight bubble focused on tennis and very little else. I also assume that most of them fear retribution were they to speak out. Again, I’m not saying that this is right. But I also don’t know that most Russian or Belarusian players are gung ho about the war. Of course, this is all almost total speculation on my part, and is probably partly or wholly off base. 😀
Andreeva has yet to apologize for liking pro-Putin posts on social media. Shnaider blatantly supports the war. Khachanov yelled at Rublev in 2022 after Rublev wrote "no war please" on a camera at the beginning of the war. There are enough problematic athletes from Russia who at least seem to support Putin that the WTA and ATP need to do more. https://www.politico.eu/article/wimbledons-russia-problem-vladimir-putin-karen-khachanov-anastasia-pavlyuchenkova-veronika-kudermetova/
Didn’t know about Andreeva. Although she’s still very young.
Idk if I’d have given a remotely good or cohesive answer on world events at 19.
I just feel zero patience with the players who don't even live in Russia who are silent. Andreeva lives in Cannes; even at 19, after four years of the war, she should understand the optics of seeming to be a Putin fangirl (where is Conchita to advise her on this?)
I would be interested in a story that told us what the, say, top 100 Russian female and male players have said about the war. I feel more ambivalent about Belarusian athletes. There are currently and have not been Belarusian soldiers fighting Ukraine or Belarusian aerial attacks. And Belarusians did try very hard to overthrow Lukashenko in 2020.
Sabalenka could say a lot more but appears to be afraid of Lukashenko, which is baffling to me. He may be a monster but is he stupid enough to threaten the most famous athlete in Belarusian history if she spoke out more forcefully against the war?
Sabalenka seems to give the wrong answer regularly enough on most topics for me to conclude that she is just mostly wrong. Shame, as a fellow magnificent ‘browed person she should be my favourite.
We’ll never know for sure if the Russian players stay silent for fear of reprisals or cos they support the war. I’m sure *after* Putin is gone they’ll say it’s the former. As far as I know only Rublev has publicly stated he’s against.
But as someone else stated on here…there are other countries being aggressive..it’s the high number of Russian and Ukrainian players which makes this a bigger tennis issue I guess.