Elina Svitolina boycotts WTA event amid Russian invasion of Ukraine

Ukraine tennis star Elina Svitolina, currently ranked No. 15 in the world, will not be playing against Russia's Anastasia Potapova in Monterrey, Mexico on Tuesday as scheduled. 

According to Sky Sports, Svitolina took to Twitter Monday to announce she had withdrawn from the WTA Tour event following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 

"I believe the current situation requires a clear position from our organisations: ATP, WTA and ITF," Svitolina wrote. "As such, we - Ukrainian players - requested to ATP, WTA and ITF to follow the recommendations of the ICO to accept Russian or Belarusian nationals only as neutral athletes, without displaying any national symbols, colours, flags or anthems.

"Accordingly, I want to announce that I will not play tomorrow in Monterrey, nor any other match against Russian or Belarussian tennis players until our organisations take this necessary decision. 

"I do not blame any of the Russian athletes. They are not responsible for the invasion of our motherland. Moreover, I wish to pay tribute to all the players, especially Russians and Belarusians, who bravely stated their position against the war. Their support is essential."

According to CNN, Belarus "is showing readiness to maybe participate directly" in the invasion after allowing Russia to invade Ukraine via its border. 

Per Aishwarya Kumar of ESPN, Ukrainian tennis player Marta Kostyuk also addressed the lack of an official WTA response to the invasion via Twitter: