Russian tennis player approves of Russian aggression against Ukraine: God did not give Ukrainians brains, she wrote. Yastremskaya went to the locker room to deal with it!

There is perhaps no sector that is not affected by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. And in the case of sport, this is absolutely true. Russian national teams have been excluded from international events, the NHL double-header in Prague was a last-minute visa issue for Russians, and in tennis, players from Russia were not allowed to participate in Wimbledon.

The vast majority of ATP and WTA events do not have a problem with Russian participation. The vast majority of players, including those from Russia, condemn the aggression or call for peace. The vast majority of opponents have no problem with who is on the other side of the court. But there are exceptions everywhere.

There have been quite a few of these minor contradictions. From various innuendos, to not shaking hands at the end of the match with, for example, Victoria Azarenka, as a Belarusian. Now a new conflict has emerged, provoked by the behaviour of Russia’s Anastasia Gasanova.

On her instagram profile, she commented on the ongoing clash in a rather unexpected way. After May 2, 2014, it was impossible to wear representative clothes or even speak Russian in Odessa, because otherwise you would have been shot,” she said.

According to her, Russians were forced to leave the Odessa region because otherwise they would have been at risk of being killed by local Ukrainians. Ukrainian tennis player Dayana Yastremska could not let this go. In fact, the pretty blonde is a native of Odessa, one of the most shelled cities.

“We met in the locker room, I immediately went to play the video she made and asked her: “Are you serious? She replied that yes, that was her attitude towards the war,” Yastremska recounted. “Everything she says is a dirty lie. There is a majority of Russian-speaking population in Odessa and nobody minds,” she added.

“God didn’t give Ukrainians brains. They want Crimea back, but they’re tearing it down, what’s the point?” asked the 154th-ranked Russian tennis player. “I told her that we are happy that the illegal construction on which the Russians were transporting the weapons they are using to kill us was destroyed. I asked her if she was happy about the killing of children in Mariupol, Buchi or Kharkiv. She just kept quiet, so I sent her to where the Russian warship was supposed to go,” she added.

The two will be able to settle it outside the locker room, right on the court. Fate and destiny have arranged it so that they will meet at the next tournament, hosted by French Rouen this Wednesday in doubles. That it will be a big match with a personal plot is reinforced by several other facts.

This is a purely Ukrainian-Russian clash. Alongside Gasanova will be her compatriot Komardina. On the same side of the court as Dayana Yastremskaya will be Ivanna Yastremskaya. It’s not a coincidence of names, but a sibling relationship. Ivanna is Dayana’s younger sister by five years.

The Russian duo is clearly favored. The odds for her to win are below 1.1. Although no stormy atmosphere and sold-out arenas are expected, the Russian will not have it easy with the audience. The sister duo from Ukraine have extra motivation to win the match again. Perhaps the biggest they have ever had in a match, and that could shuffle the cards a bit after all.

Source:: WTA, Aktuálně.cz