Sergiy Stakhovsky criticizes the silence of Russian professionals on the Ukraine war: “I’m very disappointed”

“They are all afraid for their fate. They don’t want to go to prison, but they agree that children and women die,” Stachowski said at a benefit event for war victims in Kraków, Poland

The event, which, according to “TV Polska”, raised more than 420,000 euros, was organized by world number one Iga Swiatek. The Polish woman’s call was followed by Ukrainian sports stars such as the pregnant tennis player Elina Svitolina or football hero Andriy Shevchenko. The former Polish number one Agnieszka Radwanska picked up the bat again.

Swiatek said she felt the war was already gone from people’s minds, “many players have taken off their (Ukrainian) armbands that they wore for a few matches in February”. She finds that “a bit contradictory,” said the French Open winner, “but above all I’m concentrating on what I can do to help.”

Sergiy Stakhovsky, who retired earlier this year and joined Ukraine’s reserve forces after the Russian invasion, explicitly excluded Andrey Rublev and Daria Kasatkina from his criticism. World number eight Rublev was “perhaps one of the few players who publicly spoke out against the war,” he said.

Stakhovsky: “Kasatkina is a hero in her own way”

The top Russian player Kasatkina described the war as a “nightmare” in a YouTube video, criticized homophobia in Russia and came out as gay. “I admire Darya very much,” said Stakhovsky, “she is a heroine in her own way.”

If there were more Russians like Rublev and Kasatkina, “this war would never have started.”

Stakhovsky said he “met some Russian players in Paris during Roland Garros”. He didn’t name names, but “basically everyone just turned around, walked away or turned their heads away when they saw me,” he said: “And I’ve known them all for a long time, I’ve followed their careers, to say the least I’m very disappointed with that.”

Russians start under a neutral flag

The Russian players start the tennis tour as neutral athletes.

In Wimbledon they were excluded from the organizing All England Club, which some top stars like Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Olympic champion Alexander Zverev criticized.

(SID)