“Pain, fear, panic attacks”
Ukrainian tennis player accusations
Updated on April 17th, 2025 – 7:48 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
The Ukrainian tennis player makes serious allegations against the Women’s Tennis Association. She speaks of pain, fear and panic attacks.
The Ukrainian tennis player Lessja Zurenko sharply criticized the WTA, the Women’s Tennis Association. In an emotional contribution to social networks, she described her experience on the professional tour – and announced legal steps.
In the message, the 35-year-old wrote that the tour had become a “fearsome and strange place” for her-something that she could not have imagined in her “worst nightmares”. She reported “pain, fear, panic attacks, humiliation, hold back information” and “harassment against my team to silence me”.
Zurenko did not give concrete details about their accusations. A connection with an incident from 2023 is possible. At that time, she did without a match against Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus at the tournament in Indian Wells after suffering a panic attack.
This was preceded by a conversation with the then WTA boss Steve Simon, in which he is said to have expressed insensitive about the Russian attack war against Ukraine. Players from Russia and Belarus can continue to compete under a neutral flag.
“I tried to find protection and justice within the WTA,” Zurenko continued. Instead, she was confronted with “indifference and injustice”, which led to a “persistent moral decline”.
The tour “refused to protect a woman, a player, a human being”. Since last year she has been in an ongoing court proceedings, according to Zurenko – she did not provide any further information.
At the request of the SID news agency, the WTA reacted with incomprehension. One has “great understanding of the considerable challenges”, which Ukrainian athletes such as Zurenko are exposed. At the same time, the organization was disappointed with the decision to take legal action.
“The WTA and its management have acted appropriately and in accordance with our rules at any time and we are confident that we will win in this legal dispute,” said the statement.