“WTA fined Alexander Oliynikov: Denis Oliynikov’s father shared details”, – WRITE: Sport.ua
The reason was called the father and manager of Alexandra – Denis Oliynikov. Oliynykov serves in the Armed Forces, and Alexander herself created her own platform for collecting drones for the Armed Forces, which she promotes through social networks and stripes on the form.
WTA fined Alexander for the late removal from the WTA 125 tournament in Saint-Malo (France), which took place the same week as 35,000 in Italy. Oliynikov after closing the application was on the alternative list in 15th place, and only 14 tennis players could play in the qualification of the tournament.
“I didn’t take it off because lazy. Until the last moment, we considered the opportunity to “come” in Saint-Malo as on-Site ALTERNATE (a participant from an alternative located at the site of the tournament). 2-3 days before the tournament, players began to shoot massively from this tournament. By the way, it is still unclear why it happened.
What happens in this case: WTA sends players from an alternative to an email in which it proposes to star or stay in the application. You know, this situation is very rare in itself, and no one could predict that such mayors would appear at all. What are the chances that 15 people will be filmed in 2-3 days from the tournament? ”Oliynikov said.
On the same day, when it was necessary to remove Alexander from the tournament, Denis went to a military task where mobile communication could not be used for clear reasons. WTA in the afternoon sent to tennis players from an alternative list 4 emails: three had a proposal to star or stay in the application, and in the fourth – information that Alexander became a participant in qualification because it was not removed.
The first email came at 13:36, and the third – at 16:53. Oliynikov at this time flew to Italy for a tournament at Santa Margerita di-Pula.
“I returned to the reach at night, and the next day at 7:41 in the morning we wrote a letter in WTA stating that for good reasons (active work in the Armed Forces) we could not answer earlier, and asked to remove Sasha from the tournament. They answered: yes, no problem. You have the right to three late withdrawals without penalties. ”
Alexandra added, “He just [батько] I saw a letter, we immediately contacted WTA. It happened before the draw and before the matches, so neither the organizers nor the other players were injured – and we adhered to the proper removal procedure. ”
But already on Monday, May 5, Alexander and Denis received another letter from an organization that refers to a fine for Oliynikov:
“It turned out that somewhere in the WTA rules, it is very small in a very small font that if the player is in the qualification of the WTA 125 tournament and removed, then he has no right to play the ITF tournament of the same week! Punishment: a fine and removal of all points for the tournament. ”
Instagram. Alexander Oliynikov Oleksandra Oliynikov appealed to the Association with a “one -time amnesty”:
“I want to emphasize that this is not an appeal because I understand that from a formal point of view WTA acts in accordance with the established rules. However, I ask you to make a one -time exception and keep the points you score, given the extraordinary and very atypical circumstances.
Last week, I held one of the best tournaments in my career, winning the title in fierce and honest fight, receiving valuable WTA points. This victory brings me closer to my first qualification to the Grand Slam tournament. Since I did not have a prominent junior career, I do not have a sponsor or a sports agency that would run my career, and for almost eight years in my professional tour I have never received a Wild Card for no tournament, this path was long and difficult.
The only mistake of our team in this situation was that my father could not respond to the exceptional and unusual WTA letter as fast as the teams of other players – in a few hours. We fully recognize our responsibility and do everything possible to prevent this situation from happening to the future.
However, to be deprived of the chance for the first time to play on Grand Slam only because my father was in the war and was unable to respond quickly to your letter – it seems too severe. Therefore, I respect the one -off amnesty. I am ready to pay a fine, but I sincerely ask to keep your WTA points I got honest and fair. ”
However, WTA does not want to make concessions and does not intend to lift penalties from Alexandra:
Denis Oliynikov: “We pleaded guilty. The violation is insignificant, unintentional, accidental, for the first time. It did not hurt anyone at all. We asked to apply a fine, but to leave points, because how did this shoot affect the game? This main did not affect sports results, tournament, organization, rivals. It is just a bureaucracy. But they went to the maximum.
The fact that at this time I was in the performance of military duties during the war and physically unable to communicate, was not taken into account. Alexander won the tournament in a honest struggle. But for this she will receive 0 points and a fine. Honestly, it seems to me that WTA’s decision is biased – perhaps in relation to Alexandra, perhaps, all Ukrainian players. And absolutely – WTA has a very high level of solidarity. To Russians and Belarus. And zero – to Ukrainians. ”
A similar situation happened to Alexandra for the first time, but here’s attention from WTA was in December 2024. Then the Ukrainian played at WTA competitions 125 in Florianopolis (Brazil) and in the first round defeated Russian Alevtin Ibrahimov.
As mentioned above, Oliynikova plays with a stripe of his charity fund Drones4ua.org, and then this stripe was also placed on a T -shirt of tennis players. After that match with a neutral, the organizers of the tournament and the WTA leadership, represented by the supervisor, were asked to change Alexander’s form, referring to the WTA rules (allegedly, political call).
Also, do not forget about the case of Lesya Tsurenko against WTA. Given all these situations, Denis Oliynikov’s last phrase about solidarity is very accurate.
