Fans criticize “Pavlyuchenkova is excluded because
she is a Russian player” Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) married Gael Monpis (France) in 2021, became a ‘tennis couple’, and gave birth to a daughter in October of last year.
Svitolina climbed to No. 3 in the women’s singles world rankings (in 2017), and she is now No. 73. Her marriage and the birth of her daughter knocked her out of the top 500, but she climbed the rankings after her comeback last April. Last month she reached the top of the Strasbourg International singles on the Women’s Professional Tennis (WTA) Tour. Her first WTA Tour win after giving birth. She finished in the last 16 and she reached the quarterfinals at the French Open where she majored. By the way, Svitolina is the subject of controversy when she refuses to shake hands after a game with Russia, Russia’s ally Belarus players who invaded her homeland Ukraine. It is customary for her to join her hand after the game, which Svitolina refuses. Svitolina explains that she is “for the sake of the motherland fighting the Russian invasion,” but she is uncomfortably stared at.
After Arina Savalenka (Belarus) defeated her Svitolina in the quarterfinals of the French Open, she waited in front of the net to shake her hand, but Svitolina ignored her and left the court, leaving her audience with an ‘Ooh’. booing broke out. And she told Svitolina on social media: “Involve politics in sports”, “I hope Svitolina realizes that athletes are not politicians and not soldiers”, “She doesn’t have to act like a racist. Criticisms such as “no” poured in.
As Wimbledon, the third major tournament of the season메이저놀이터 scheduled to open on the 3rd of next month, announces the wild card, fans are focusing on Svitolina and Wimbledon. This is because Svitolina received a wild card and participated, but Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia) was excluded. Pavlyuchenkova was off the court for 9 months with a knee injury, then she made a comeback, and she also reached the quarterfinals of the French Open. Her hiatus pushed her out of the top 300 in the world rankings, but she rose to number 115.
Analysts say that the reason Wimbledon gave Svitolina her wild card and turned away from Pavlyuchenkova was because of her ‘nationality’. Fans are posting posts on social media such as “Wimbledon wildcards are always assigned based on political considerations” and “Wimbledon is a stupid event”. The remaining wild card will be announced at a later date, and “Pavlyuchenkova must receive the remaining wild card. All top-class players are eligible to compete”, “Apart from giving Pavlyuchenkova the remaining wild card, what is expected of Wimbledon? There is nothing,” and so on.