The tennis family: a safe place
War has been raging in Europe for eight weeks. Daria Kasatkina has been on the tennis tour all these weeks. Has her life in the tennis circus felt different since then? “To be honest, no. Everything is okay on the tour, it doesn’t feel any different,” says number 26 in the world and then thinks for a moment. “It’s kind of hard to answer that, but we’re in a safe place thanks to our organizations.” And thanks to the other players, Kasatkina says that too. One of them: the German Laura Siegemund.
Siegemund: “You still remain colleagues”
Laura Siegemund has just celebrated two doubles titles with her doubles partner Wera Zwonareva from Russia. “Of course it’s a permanent issue with the players,” says Siegemund from everyday life on the tour. She sees the ban from Wimbledon with mixed feelings: “I also find it difficult to simply rule out the players who are obviously against this war and say so,” says the 34-year-old. And then adds a sentence that describes the feeling of many in the tennis scene quite well: “You still remain colleagues.” But Siegemund also takes a clear stance: “I’m absolutely against this war, but of course you have to set an example.” The disruption is obvious.
There is still no clear line in tennis. So far, the organizers in Wimbledon have been alone with their decision.
Source: SWR