New York – The Ukrainian tennis player, Lesia Tsurenko, has filed amended lawsuit that accuses the WTA Tour and its president, Steve Simon, of a breach of contract, negligence and “negligent inflicence of emotional anguish” due to the way he has handled Russian and bielarus players in the war in Ukrain.
Tsurenko, who was once among the 25 mains in the world, says in the demand that WTA executives, including Simon, who was his CEO at that time, failed to follow the guarantees made in a meeting with the Ukrainian players that the organization would prohibit Russian or bielarus players who publicly supported the war with Ukraine.
The amended lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in the Federal Court for the Southern District of New York, cited examples such as the Russian player Veronika Kudermetova with a patch in the France Open for Sponsor Taneft, a subsidiary of a company that was sanctioned by the European Union for helping to supply the Russian army.
“Despite this promise,” says Tsurenko’s demand, “neither the defendant Steve Simon nor the defendant WTA prohibited Russian and beamorusia players who publicly supported the war.”
The WTA said in a statement to Associated Press on Wednesday that it has been “firm and clear in its conviction to the Russian war against Ukraine and the actions of the Russian government against the Ukrainian people.”
“Consistent with Our Position,” The Statement Said, “The Wta has taken numberus to assist ur ukrainian player members, who have faced great challenges as professional athletes. ITS RULES PROVIDE THAT COMPETITIONS ARE OPEN TO ALL WOMEN PLAYERS WHO QUALIFY BASED ON THEIR MERIT, AND WITHOUT DISCRIMINATION.
Shortly after the large -scale invasion of Russia of Ukraine in February 2022, the WTA Tour, the ATP Tour and the International Tennis Federation issued a joint statement in which he said that Russian and Belarus athletes could compete as long as they did not compete under the flags of their nation. This policy is still in force with the Russian and Belarusic athletes who compete in the Paris Olympic Games last year as “individual neutral athletes”; Russian players Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider won money in female doubles.
Tsurenko’s demand affirms that he was forced to withdraw from an event in Indian Wells due to a panic attack of having to potentially play against Russians and Belarusians, and that he had “developed excessive stress, the loss of concentration that affected his performance in tennis games, mortification and injuries to their feelings.”
Lindsay Brandon, director of Safeguardia of the WTA, informed Tsurenko in 2023 that Simon would be investigated for violating his code of conduct. But that October, the organization informed him that Simon had not violated his code or any disposition of the employee manual. Tsurenko tried to appeal but was not successful.
“Even in my worst nightmares, I could not imagine that the professional tour, which I considered my home, would become a scary and strange place, where the (ex) CEO of the organization consciously committed an act of moral abuse against me, which led to a panic attack and my inability to do my job,” Tsurenko wrote on Tuesday on social networks.
The initial complaint filed in November requests a jury trial.
Proskaeur Rose, the law firm that represents the WTA, presented a motion last month to dismiss the case claiming that Tsurenko’s claims were “legally defective.” The WTA has until April 30 to decide if it will continue with its motion to say goodbye.
“While the WTA has the greatest sympathy for the important challenges that Mrs. Tsurenko and our other Ukrainian athletes have faced,” said his statement on Wednesday, “we are disappointed that he has decided to participate in litigation to look We prevail that they prevail that we prevail in this litigation in this litigation in this litigation. “
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