"The war is still there": Svitolina calls on Wimbledon to continue Russian and Belarusian ban

Elina Svitolina wants to see Wimbledon continue it's ban on Russian and Belarussian players because the war in Ukraine is still going on.

Svitolina was one of the rare players that publicly supported to ban on Russian and Belarussian players even advocating for more punishment. It's not hard to understand why considering that her home city of Odessa experienced the war albeit not directly. In an interview with BBC Sport, Svitolina once again came out to support the ban:

“The war is still there. The decision should not be any different. I hope they will do the same thing and keep the ban in place. I don’t think it should change. There are still people suffering and still Russian soldiers killing innocent Ukrainians.”

Svitolina added that it's her view that ordinary Russians who are not in power should also be sanctioned because that would increase the pressure on their government:

“I see a lot of comments that sport should be out of politics but Russian sport is a big part of their politics. Hopefully, we don’t have to make this [boycott] decision because this would be sending a wrong message. Why is it different? We have to sanction Russian and Belarusian people in general because of what they governments are doing. This is my view. I have nothing against particular athletes. But how else can we stop this war?

She also said:

“We should sanction the people from Russia and Belarusian as much as possible because their governments are doing these severe things in Ukraine. The sanctions will stop these governments doing what they are doing.”