Ukrainian  Lesia Tsurenko in a Wimbledon press conference criticized ‘most Russian and Belarusian players’ who have remained ‘silent’ on the issue of Vladimir Putin’s intrusion into Ukraine.

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World No 101, Tsurenko wore a ribbon that resembled the Ukrainian flag for a match against compatriot Anhelina Kalinina in the second round. This move was well received by the fans at Court 12, with many waving Ukrainian flags. She defeated Kalinina 3-6,6-4,6-3.

Tsurenko also equaled her best Wimbledon record, and on Friday, July 1, she will play 22-year-old Jule Niemeier in the third round. She struggled at the beginning of the match after dropping the first set, but she persevered and won the next two sets to take the match.

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Tsurenko stated that she agreed with the decision of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) to exclude Russian and Belarusian players from this year’s Championships.

Speaking in regard to the ban of Russian and Belarussian players, she said, “ I heard from only one Russian and  I did not hear anything from any other player. So for me, silence means…I mean it’s not good.”

“The horrible things that are going on in Ukraine in the last week, (a) terrorist act, a lot of civilians dead,” the 33-year-old added. 

Her statement was in response to the killing of 20 people from Missile strikes in the Kremenchuk industrial city of Ukraine, on Monday.

Lesia Tsurenko added this is the second time that her family had been affected by War after they had to flee from Georgia in the early 1990s when she was only 4 years old. 

Tsurenko is currently ranked 101 in WTA. She achieved her career-high ranking on 18th February 2019. She has a career 453-300 win-loss record.