"We are afraid, we feel empty": Svitolina brands WTA 'useless', responds to Tsurenko Indian Wells incident

Elina Svitolina spoke out in favour of her compatriot Lesia Tsurenko and her recent experience with the WTA by calling the organization useless.

The WTA has been under a lot of fire recently for many reasons but lately, it's been mostly for the way they handled Lesia Tsurenko and her withdrawal in Indian Wells. The Ukranian experienced a panic attack before facing Sabalenka and ultimately withdrew from holding meetings with the WTA. Many players from Ukraine held meetings with the organisation but they were left disappointed by their stance.

Svitolina backed those stories by explaining:

"We are afraid, we feel empty. What is happening to Lesia is very sad. People who haven't experienced it can't really understand what it feels like to have no home, to feel safe nowhere, to have family in Ukraine, under the bombs, to know that Ukrainian cities are being destroyed. It's both fear and great emptiness."

She added:

"The WTA shoud have done more, much more, on many issues. Now it's too late. There have been a lot of press releases, a lot of interviews. It was useless."