"There’s a lot of tension in the locker room": Swiatek calls for WTA to take more responsibility over Russia war

Iga Swiatek would like to see more responsibility from the WTA when it comes to the War in Ukraine due to the whole thing creating a lot of tension on the Tour.

Swiatek has been open and very clear about her support for Ukraine as the country is being invaded by a neighbouring one. The Polish player staged a charity event in Poland for the country and plays with a small Ukraine pin on her hat since it all started. She plans to keep playing with it until it resolves as she greatly sympathizes with her colleagues from Ukraine:

“I totally understand why she withdrew because honestly I respect Ukrainian girls so much. If a bomb landed in my country or if my home was destroyed, I don’t know if I could handle that and compete. “You have to really mentally be there to compete every week. So I get that she wasn’t ready to do that.

She added:

“I feel more should be done to help Ukrainian players because everything we discuss in tennis is about Belarusian and Russian players, if they should be allowed, what’s going on with them. I don’t think that’s right, because we should focus more on helping Ukrainian players and providing them everything they need because they basically have to take care of all their families, and there’s a lot of baggage on their shoulders.”

She would like for the WTA to step in more because she doesn't want to see situations like that of Potapova:

“At the beginning we didn’t have proper leadership to guide us through all of that. There’s a lot of tension in the locker room that obviously is going to be there because there’s a war. But maybe it should be a little bit less if WTA put some action at the beginning to explain to everybody what’s right and what’s not.”