Ukrainian tennis player Lesya Turenko filed a lawsuit against the US Federal Court against the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and its head of Steve Simon. It's not just about sports - it is about moral pressure, double standards and ignoring war in Ukraine.
The lawsuit to the district court of the Southern District of New York, which was filed in November 2024, contains accusations of breach of contract, negligence, emotional harm, and even in unacceptable WTA's domestic policy, which allegedly prevents players with any claims.
WTA in response filed a request for rejection of the claim, calling it "legally incapable." But on April 16, Turenko filed an updated complaint. WTA has to decide by reaction by April 30.
The key event is a meeting in March 2022 between Tsurenko, Svitolina, Kostyuk and the head of WTA. Then Steve Simon promised that any public statements of Russian or Belarusian players in support of the war would be disqualified. But, as Tsurenko notes, no removal has happened.
A striking example is Veronica Kudhermetov, which appeared on Rolan Harros with a sponsor logo "Tatneft", a company from the EU defensive sanctions lists.
And yet - an attempt of a Ukrainian tennis player to present a presentation about a war, which, according to Tsurenko, was blocked on the initiative of Simon.
The most painful was the incident in the spring of 2023. According to a tennis player, during a personal meeting, Simon said that the support of war is just the opinion of another person who should not hurt you. At the same time, Tsurenko refused to go to the court against Arina Sobolenko - because of a panic attack.
She experienced emotional breakdowns, loss of concentration, feelings of shame, and eventually lost control of her career.
Her coach Nikita Vlasov demanded an internal investigation. But WTA began to check not on Simon, but on Vlasov himself for "violation of the Code of Conduct".
WTA argues that acts in accordance with the principles of equality and does not consider itself guilty. The official position, published by The Athletic, refers to the support of Ukrainian tennis players, but without discrimination against "neutral" athletes from the Russian Federation and Belarus.
"We are disappointed by Ms. Tsurenko's decision to seek the truth in court," the Association sums up.
On April 16, Turenko published a public statement where she wrote:
"Even in the worst nightmares, I could not imagine that the professional tour I considered my home would turn into a terrible and someone else's space where the head of the organization would commit an act of moral violence against me."
This is the first time that the Ukrainian athlete officially challenges the actions of an international sports organization due to the lack of reaction to Russian aggression.
Despite WTA's statements about neutrality, Turenko's case can be a precedent that will finally force sports organizations to change their policies - or at least stop calling a moral injury "personal perception".
