Ukraine’s Lesya Surenko started off with a win at the Wimbledon Open. On Wednesday, she defeated her own country rival Anhelina Kalinina by 3-6, 6-4, 6-3. Surenko, 33, was allowed to wear a yellow and blue ribbon over his white dress during the match, with a yellow and blue ribbon depicting her country’s flag. Wimbledon has a long history with white clothing.
“What’s happening in Ukraine is awful. I just feel terrible and so guilty, and there’s nothing I can do. So the only thing is continue playing and, as I said, I will donate 10% of my prize-money. Again, the horrible things that are going on in Ukraine in the last week, terrorist act, a lot of civilians dead,” Tsurenko, who said the All England Club had agreed to her wearing the ribbon.
Surenko said she supported Wimbledon’s decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players from the Grand Slam. She said that she had only heard from a Belarusian player and a Russian player, who told him that they were against war.
Tsurenko, the last Ukrainian to be left in grand slam after Marta Kostyuk was knocked out by Zhang Shuai on Wednesday, again praised Wimbledon for banning Russian and Belarusian players and said the support from the public was ‘amazing’.
Featured: BBC
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