The Albany Gazette - Ukraine's Oliynykova says tennis must stop 'accepting' Russians who support war

"The Russian players... They have these horrible beliefs. Yeah, that's what we have right now on tour. For me this is something that I think we need to stop to accept in professional sports," Oliynykova told reporters after her third-round loss to Russian Diana Shnaider at the French Open.

"If they don't want to hear and they continue to spread this propaganda, then there should be some mechanism in our tour to stop this."

"They want to earn money. They want to be in public. They want to use this to support their dictators. That's what they want to do and what we need to stop to accept," the 25-year-old added.

Oliynykova began her post-match press conference by reading a prepared statement.

"I know that some people disagree with my actions. I know that some people would prefer that I stay silent. But what I do is not about politics, it's about humanity," she said.

"Our organisation (WTA) was not built by pioneers like Billie Jean King so that money and luxury could become the only values in women's tennis. They wanted something bigger than that. They wanted us to have a voice, to inspire others to make the world better.

"We as players have responsibility that goes beyond tennis, because sports should always stand with humanity, and humanity should never be optional."

- 'So hypocritical' -

Ahead of their match, Oliynykova had accused 25th seed Shnaider of "taking money" from a "company financing war crimes".

During her post-match press conference on Thursday after she had booked her meeting with Shnaider, Oliynykova brandished her phone to show photos of Shnaider playing in an event sponsored by Russian state energy company Gazprom and also some of the Russian's social-media 'likes'.

After her 7-5, 6-1 victory over the 65th-ranked Ukrainian, Shnaider said she had "no idea" what her opponent might have said about her in the build-up to the match.

"Yesterday I was just practising and getting ready," she told reporters. "So, yeah, I haven't heard anything. I don't know anything about what she said. Wasn't interested at all.

"About social media, I have no idea what she found. I have no idea, so I don't have any comments on that.

"Speaking of exhibition tournament, you know, I'm travelling all year-round. I'm not seeing my family or my friends, and I have the only one opportunity to play in front of my family, in front of my friends, just to spend a little more time at home."

Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Oliynykova has regularly breached the subject on tour.

"The thing is that someone needs to react," she said Saturday.

"I want to stop the tour being so hypocritical pretending they cannot do anything, because I said in one of my interviews, they have the mechanism.

"You can be sanctioned if you participate in a tournament organised by a betting company, but if they have this mechanism, why they will not use this for a tournament organised by a war crimes sponsor?"

(O.Robinson--TAG)