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Tennis News –
UTF Vice-President and Executive Director Evgeniy Zukin told BTU about their work during the war, the destroyed tennis center and how the tennis world reacted on the Russian invasion of UkraineEvgeniy Zukin: "Many people feel disappointed with the response to the Russian invasion, because they idealized the tennis world" On his work and the work of the UTF during the war - The federation continues its work. In practice, this happens remotely, only occasionally some employees are in the office. Everyone is busy, all the people keep doing their job, they receive their salary on time. We pay all taxes. Our employees are now in different places: some stay in Ukraine, some have left the country. But due to modern technology, distance does not create problems. We are in constant contact, hold operational meetings, adjust tasks according to current circumstances. Our main task is to save people, give them the opportunity to survive in this difficult time. As we all understand, it is almost impossible to find another job now. Personally, I am fine, especially amid everything that is happening. Fortunately, none of my relatives were injured, but I call it "a Russian roulette". The war continues, there are no places in Ukraine that can be called safe. No one knows what place will be hit [by missiles] tomorrow and which civilians may be affected. There are loved ones who are now at the front. Due to all of this, it’s impossible to get rid of the constant anxiety during these three months. During a war, when soldiers are fighting on the front lines, we need to fight in our own place, where we can, to help where we can. It is our duty to people and ultimately to ourselves. On damaged tennis clubs in Ukraine - Many clubs across the country were affected by military aggression. In the Kyiv Oblast, all tennis centers were affected: the “MTA” academy in Pushcha Vodytsya, the “Kampa” center in Bucha, and the Ukrainian Tennis Center in Sviatopetrovsk. But, fortunately, not everything is in critical conditions. Of course, the damage is significant, but the situation is not beyond repair. They have even resumed work there. But there were great tennis clubs in Mariupol, for example, the "SMASH" club... You don't even have to talk about them, you know. There is nothing left of the city. In Kherson and in the region, local clubs and its people live under occupation. What will happen to the UTF Tennis Center in Iprin, it depends on the owner. Since almost the entire "Grand Admiral and SPA resort" is destroyed, only the owners of the complex can decide on its future fate. All our property that was there, it was all destroyed… Air support structure, heating systems, everything that was in the office building, office equipment… We said goodbye to it. It is beyond repair. At least if we do it on our own. We don't know yet what Grand Admiral's thoughts will be, because they also don't understand what to do. It is difficult to say anything else. For you to get a better understanding of the situation, I will add that demining has just ended there. There were streamers and mines that did not explode, including on the courts.
On the letter by UTF to the International Tennis Federation and the first reaction of tennis governing bodies - We sent a letter to the ITF at the very beginning of the war, and the Board made such a logical decision in this situation. They called it out very clear: war is war, and Russia and Belarus are aggressors. At first Tennis Europe did not respond the way it should have been done, but soon they made a correct response. I think, we have achieved what we wanted. Our position was, first of all, to exclude the federations of the Russian Federation and Belarus, their teams and all officials from the international tennis family. I spoke in person with ITF President David Haggerty. We are constantly in contact on this issue. It's great that this decision was made. I can't say that it was easy. We need to understand that international tennis also has its politicians, groups, coalitions. On the ban of Russian and Belarusian players - Of course, we raised this issue of excluding not only teams, but also, if possible, individual players. However, there was no great chance to achieve that from the beginning. But the war continues. Every day brings evidence of the horrific atrocities of the aggressors. All this has been happening since the first days of the full-scale invasion and is still happening. In such conditions, a tougher reaction is required. The Ukrainian Tennis Federation has decided to support the ban of individual athletes. During this time, they have not stated their clear position on the war in Ukraine. Personally, I believe that if these tennis players took a clear anti-war stance, it would be more beneficial to us as a country than excluding them. Unfortunately, neither of the two happened. Personally, it was not a big surprise for me that the ATP decided not to remove athletes from the aggressor countries. Tennis, as always, focused on the commercial component. For example, Novak Djokovic, with his bitterness over the Australian Open saga, did everything possible to make sure that ATP would approve this final decision (regarding ranking points). But the fact that the ITF also stripped the ranking points from the juniors and wheelchair events at Wimbledon is, of course, a big disappointment. Thus, they supported the ATP and the WTA. I have some more information on this topic, but I will not make it public. Let's just say, this could only have happened due to the common interest of a general tennis truce. I will have meetings, I will talk about it and try to work it out in future.
On the tennis structures and support to Ukraine - We have those who support us. This is the LTA (Great Britain), we must admit that the French Federation has done a lot for the players, the Swiss Federation took care of 12 Ukrainian athletes. Poland did not help through the federation, but some clubs did a lot. We are starting a new stage of cooperation with the Lithuanian Federation, which will be announced soon (it turned out Lithunia will host the next Ukrine’s tie against Hungary in the Davis Cup). The LTA’s decision on excluding Russian and Belorussian players was publicly supported by Poland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Finland, Denmark and Belgium. Many others expressed their support on the sidelines. At Tennis Europe, the issue of individual players was put to the vote and the votes were 60 to 40, with 40% saying that individual players should also be banned. It is not a small number. But most members of the tennis elite believe that banning these athletes from playing would be unfair, that they are not guilty. On attempts of tennis organizations or officials to "reconcile" the parties - No, this was not the case. Nobody tried to do that on this level. In my opinion, everyone understands that this is impossible. What Novak Djokovic said about ideas for joint performances [in charity events or mixed doubles] is his business. He sees it all completely differently, so let him comment on that. On the charity platform Tennis For Peace - I will repeat it and make it clear not for the first time: 7 tennis organizations - ATP, WTA, ITF and 4 Grand Slam tournaments - have launched this initiative and they’ve made donations as follows: $100K from ITF to support Ukrainian tennis and $100K from each of other six governing bodies to humanitarian aid to Ukraine. All these six hundred thousand for humanitarian needs they transferred to the foundation of their choice. That's all for now. I don't know what's going on there. Also I should add that ATP promised to help those players who suffered from the war. I talked about this with the ATP’s President Andrea Gaudenzi, and with the Vice President… On the requests from players and ways to help Ukrainians - You can go crazy with all these requests: to organize accommodation, and food, and training etc. I should admit, they are all tired of us. They thought it would be 2-3 months and that's it, then the Ukrainians would go home. But now we understand that it will be different. And the enthusiasm of the first days is waning. This is a big problem. Soon no one will give anything away for free. And everyone has to decide whether to get a job somewhere in Europe or not. It is clear that the war causes absolute polarization and there are no middle options, but it should be noted: now in Ukraine it is impossible to play professional tennis. You can only train, but when you need to go abroad and play tournaments… Going abroad is 7 rounds of hell. There will be no competition within the country for top players. This is a big global problem. So far, we have spent only 10% of this fund. I'm afraid there will be no more money. We have spent them very carefully and will try to stretch for as long as possible. This financial help ($100K from ITF) is jointly operated by ITF and UTF, every payment is agreed and tracked. So far we spent this money to help players abroad, when a group of players was out of money in a Turkish hotel and they had nowhere to go. Otherwise, they could have ended up in the police station for deportation. We also helped some of our top junior players. Most of these funds will go for our national teams who are going to play at the European Summer Cups. On the joint disappointment of Ukrainians with the reaction of the tennis world - Personally, I expected the worst. In fact, I feel supported. I am pleased with the behavior of those who really had moral values. They have preserved them and continue to adhere to them. I think that many of those who are disappointed with this reaction, just somehow idealized the tennis world, they did not dive deep into it. That's why it became such a huge surprise for many. When someone says, like, then we should return their money back, I think it's an immature reaction. This is again polarization. In that case, will we stay on the island that our neighbors are trying to invade? Of course, the tennis world does not want to understand what war is. Any healthy person wants to delve into problems that do not directly affect him. I always ask this question: how indifferent have you been to what has been happening in Syria for the last 10 years? What war crimes took place there. It is necessary to say honestly that someone was interested in what is happening a little more than most of people, like I was, for example, someone was focused only on their job, their lives. So, it is a protection on a mental level so you can stay in your comfort zone. This is a normal defense mechanism.
On your own feelings towards tennis today - Yes, apparently, my attitude has changed. In fact, I can’t follow the results closely. In general, somehow it became ... Everything became more difficult. On how you manage to stay positive and maintain optimism - I think we need to work. No other recipe, except - the more you work, the better. Who has the opportunity to play sports – they should play sports. Look for new options to distract yourself from the constant news, especially when you can’t help. And you need to stop blaming yourself for not helping enough. First of all, everyone should do as it’s written in the safety rules on the plane: put the mask first on yourself and then on the child. Of course, many people are in a broken state. You should try to avoid this. I wish everyone to support relatives, friends. Keep your head up, do not give up and keep fighting, keep fighting and keep fighting again. Website BTU - Ukrainian Tennis - joins the fundraising to help internally displaced persons in Dnipropetrovsk Region
You can support those, who have been forced to flee their homes due to the Russian military aggression, with a donation via PayPal? Источник: btu.org.ua |
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