“The first racket of Ukraine is about the war in the country”, — write: sport.ua
– I have a question about Ukraine. The third year of the war is coming to an end. The situation at the tournament is a little different now than two years ago, it seems that we forget about it a little, even last year it was similar. How do you feel about this? And another question related to this too, will Ukrainian players refuse to shake hands with Russian and Belarusian players at this tournament and this season? And why?
– Well, I can say for sure that while the war continues, we will not shake their hands in any case. I cannot say what will happen after her. Personally, I would not shake their hands until the end of my career. But I don’t know… This is my opinion on the matter.
As far as I’m concerned, nothing much has changed. Because I look at other sports, at athletics, for example, and these athletes are not there. So I ask myself, why are they in tennis? What is the difference? Why are they so privileged to be here and compete. Therefore, I can say for myself that I definitely did not forget about the war or about other things. I don’t forget about it, because my whole family is in Ukraine. And when there are these attacks by rockets and drones, I know that my family is there, that they are in danger almost every night. And when I myself was in Ukraine a few months ago, I woke up in the middle of the night from explosions.
– Where exactly were you in Ukraine?
– I was in Kyiv, I was at home. I think there is still a lack of understanding of what these countries are actually doing. You know, people, they really do not fully realize all this. And it is very unfortunate, because all this is happening close to the countries of Europe, much closer than everyone thinks. So I don’t know how things will play out now with the new president [США]and with everything. No one knows what will happen. But my position is unchanged. Thank you for your question, because I think it needs to be brought up again. Because I think these people feel very comfortable here now. And I don’t think that should be the case when something like this happens in my home.