The No. 1 in the world criticized the WTA for its position on the war in Ukraine

the polish tennis player Iga Swiateknumber one in the world, gave his opinion on the Russia-Ukraine War and assured that tennis should have opted for a better measure, in which it should have sent a stronger message by prohibiting Russians and Belarusians from playing. In addition, he compared the situation with the German, Italian and Japanese tennis players after the Second World War.

Although he considered that the situation in Russiahe clarified in an in-depth interview with the British channel BBC that sport is also very important because historically it is “used as propaganda”.

“I’ve heard and read that after WWII Germans and Japanese and Italians weren’t allowed to play and I think this kind of thing would show the Russian government that it might not be worth it. I know it’s a part small, because we are only athletes, but I think that sport is very important and it has always been used as propaganda”analyzed swiatek.

In this sense, the 21-year-old considered that “Tennis, from the beginning, could have done a little better in showing everyone that tennis players are against the war.”

“They could do more to make that point of view clear and tell their opinions and help us cope a little better in the locker room, because the atmosphere is quite tense.”deepened.

At the same time, he supported the Russian tennis player Daria Kasatkina because “He said openly that he was against the war at the beginning and that his dream would be for the war to end.”

“It’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 hard for them to speak out loud about it.” explained.

In April of last year, Wimbledon It was the only tournament that did not allow the entry of Russian and Belarusian players, which earned it heavy financial sanctions, up to 2 million euro, by the big tennis organizations. Against this background, this year, the third grand slams of the season has been reversed and will allow tennis players of these nationalities to play as long as they do so under a neutral flag, as in the rest of the tournaments on the circuit.

“This is something that was considered at the beginning. Tennis was not really going there, but now it would be quite unfair for the Russian and Belarusian players to do so because this decision is supposed to have been made a year ago and it is not the fault of these players who have a Russian or Belarusian passport”He said about the prohibitions.

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