|
Tennis News –
The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) has imposed sanctions on Ukrainian tennis player Oleksandra Oliynykova.Father of Oleksandra Oliynykova: "WTA fined my daughter and stripped her of points for the title because I didn’t reply to their email — I was on a combat mission at the time" Last week, Alexandra Oleynikova clinched the title at the ITF W35 tournament in Santa Margherita di Pula, Italy. The 24-year-old Ukrainian secured her seventh singles title and her first since October of the previous year. Currently, Oleynikova is ranked 274th in the WTA rankings. Her father, Denis Oleynikov, serves in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and also acts as her manager. Alexandra has established her own platform to raise funds for drones for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which she promotes through her Instagram and a patch on her attire (where permitted). According to Denys Oliynykov, on Monday, the WTA informed them of the sanctions—a monetary fine and the annulment of ranking points for her victory in Italy. He explained that the WTA penalized Oleksandra for a late withdrawal from the WTA 125 tournament in Saint-Malo, France, which took place during the same week as the ITF tournament in Italy that she won. Oliynykova was registered for the tournament in France and, after the entry deadline, was positioned deep in the alternate list—15th—while the tournament's qualifying draw accommodated only 14 players. "I didn't withdraw her not out of negligence," Denys recounted. "We were considering the possibility of entering Saint-Malo as an on-site alternate. Two to three days before the tournament, players began withdrawing en masse. To this day, I still don't understand why that happened. In such cases, the WTA sends emails to alternates, offering them the choice to withdraw or remain on the entry list. As you can imagine, this situation is quite rare, and no one could have anticipated such emails. What are the odds that 15 players ahead of you would withdraw just two to three days before the tournament?" That same morning, the player’s father was dispatched on a military assignment with a full ban on mobile communication. Starting in the afternoon, the WTA sent four emails to players on the alternate list: three offering the choice to withdraw or remain in the entry list, and a fourth informing that Oleksandra had been added to the qualifying draw, since she had not withdrawn. This meant there was less than 3.5 hours to send a response declining participation: the first email arrived at 13:36, and the third at 16:53. At that time, Oleksandra was already on her way to Italy, flying to the tournament in Santa Margherita di Pula. "I returned to an area with reception during the night, and the next day at 7:41 a.m. we wrote to the WTA explaining that, due to valid reasons (active duty in the Armed Forces), we were unable to respond earlier, and we requested that Sasha be withdrawn from the tournament," her father said. "They replied: no problem, you are entitled to three late withdrawals without penalties." "As soon as he saw the email, we contacted the WTA right away," Oleksandra explained. "It was before the draw and before matches started, so neither the organizers nor any other players were affected — and we followed the proper withdrawal procedure." However, this Monday they received a different letter from the WTA. "It turned out that somewhere in the WTA rules, in very small print, it says that if a player has been accepted into the qualifying draw of a WTA 125 tournament and withdraws, they are not allowed to compete in an ITF event in the same week! The penalty: a monetary fine and removal of all ranking points earned at the tournament." Later, Oleksandra addressed the association with a request for a “one-time amnesty.” "I want to emphasize that this is not an appeal, because I understand that, formally, the WTA is acting in accordance with its established rules. However, I am asking for a one-time exception to be made and for the points I earned to be preserved, given the extraordinary and highly unusual circumstances," the player wrote in her letter. "Last week, I played one of the best tournaments of my career, winning the title through hard-fought and fair competition, earning valuable WTA points. This victory brings me closer to my first Grand Slam qualifying event. Since I did not have a remarkable junior career, do not have a sponsor or an agency managing my career, and have NEVER received a Wild Card for any tournament in almost eight years on tour, this path has been long and difficult. The only mistake our team made in this situation was that my father was unable to respond to the unusual WTA email as quickly as other players’ teams — within a few hours," Oleksandra explains in her appeal. "We fully accept our responsibility and will do everything possible to ensure such a situation does not happen again in the future. However, to be denied the chance to play my first Grand Slam simply because my father was at war and couldn’t reply to your email in time seems like an overly harsh punishment. So I respectfully request a one-time amnesty. I am willing to pay the fine, but I sincerely ask you to keep the WTA points I earned through honest and fair competition."  However, the association does not accept the arguments of the Ukrainian player and does not intend to reverse its sanctions. “We admitted fault,” said Denys Oliynykov. “The violation was minor, unintentional, accidental, and committed for the first time. It harmed no one — absolutely no one. We asked them to apply the fine but preserve the points, because how did this withdrawal affect the competition? That email had no impact on the sporting results, the tournament, the organization, or the opponents. It’s just bureaucracy. But they chose the maximum penalty. The fact that I was on active military duty during wartime and physically unable to respond was not taken into account. Oleksandra won the tournament through fair competition. But for that, she will receive zero points and a monetary fine. Honestly, I believe the WTA’s decision is biased — possibly toward Oleksandra, possibly toward all Ukrainian players. And one thing is clear — the WTA shows a very high level of solidarity. With Russians and Belarusians. And zero with Ukrainians.” |
Уважаемый посетитель, Вы зашли на сайт как незарегистрированный пользователь. Мы рекомендуем Вам зарегистрироваться либо зайти на сайт под своим именем.
У вас забули спитати, дуже переживають за вашу думку.