On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a full-blown attack on its neighboring country, Ukraine, after setting up a military presence alongside the Ukrainian border for a week. The dispute between the two nations had been quite major ever since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, but things got worse when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed to the United States of America to let them join the N.A.T.O.
What followed was two years of bloodshed by martyrs on both sides, but Ukraine lost many innocent lives and military personnel in particular because, ultimately, they were the country that was under attack, and compared to Russia; they are a much weaker force. The effects of this world were carried over to the world of sports, and almost the entire world was against Russia’s actions against Ukraine.
As a result, even in tennis, the Russian and Belarusian players were initially banned from taking part in any tournament. They were later allowed to play under no flag and that has continued till now.
Many Ukrainian tennis players openly voiced their opinions against the oppressive measures that Russia was taking against their countries and the unofficial rule of Ukrainian players not shaking hands with Russian players became pretty mainstream. One of the players who were the forerunners in this is Elina Svitolina.
She penned down a note on her Instagram story in remembrance of the countless martyrs who lost their lives for Ukraine today, as the war had officially begun on this day two years ago.
Two years of our great struggle have once again proven that only together are we strong and invincible. When no one believed, we acted. We learned to be together by being united. We fight, we help and we keep on dreaming. Svitolina’s wrote on Instagram (Google translated)
Elina Svitolina says the path ahead for her nation will be ‘thorny and difficult’
Svitolina had paid a visit to her hometown in Odesa, Ukraine, to meet her grandmother. During her visit, she also met the Ukrainian kids whose tennis career she is funding through the Elina Svitolina Foundation, which currently aims at ‘Changing lives through tennis’. Thus, she knows the ground reality and the current situation in Ukraine pretty well.
The path ahead is thorny and difficult, but we will surely pass it. A low bow to our soldiers, an eternal memory to the dead. Shout out to our partners. Glory to Ukraine! Hail to the heroes! Ukraine, above all. she added in her Instagram story
In the meantime, she is also focused on her career in tennis. She recently lost to Iga Swiatek in the round of 16 of the Dubai Open. Before that, she reached the fourth round of the Australian Open before getting knocked out by Linda Noskova.
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