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Nikita Vlasov, coach of the Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko, made very heavy accusations against the Belarusian tennis player Aryna Sabalenka in an interview with Tribuna. The ukrainian did not take the court against the current Indian Wells semifinalist after a conversation with WTA president Steve Simon.
Vlasov's very strong criticism of the Australian Open winner: "It's your fault, you support the bloody regime of your dictator. You are completely on his side. The terrible events are also your fault, Aryna, as is anyone else on the side of the regimes in Belarus and Russia," said the coach, convinced that Steve Simon is doing everything to avoid talking about the war.
The coach also badmouthed Novak Djokovic's father: "It's a stupid situation of two narrow-minded people. Djokovic's father said Glory to Russia on camera and later claimed to have been misinterpreted. You are still responsible for your words.
In his interviews with him, Novak has never directly condemned Russia's actions in Ukraine," he concluded. The coach reported the dialogue his player had with the highest representative of the women's Tour: "Exactly one year ago, in this tournament, the Ukrainian tennis players met with Simon and discussed what to do with the Russians and Belarusians against the background of the war in Ukraine.
There was a demand to ban them from competitions. A year later, Lesia approached Simon and told him: A year has passed, but the WTA hasn't done anything for the Ukrainians Simon also said: The WTA will not change its policy.
If a player supports war, of course, that's not good, but it's his personal opinion of him and he has the right to say that 'He is sorry for the Ukrainians but he stressed that nothing will change' Tsurenko's trainer reported.
On her athlete's retirement: "The night before the game her hands were shaking, Simon's words rang in her head, to which she added: 'I understand that now I will play against Sabalenka, a player who supports war, assassination of the Ukrainians' Later I told the organizers that I would not let her take the field. Every day we wake up and read news about how many people have died."