Former top 25 player accuses WTA of ‘moral abuse’ and takes legal action against the association
Lesia Tsurenko has launched legal action against the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and its chairman Steve Simon for the way it handled Russian and Belarusian players throughout the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Since the invasion began, Russian and Belarusian players – such as Aryna Sabalenka and Daniil Medvedev – have been unable to compete at ATP and WTA tennis events under their countries’ flag.
Additionally, the Lawn Tennis Association – which is not directly associated with the WTA – announced in 2022 that players from the two countries would be banned from all events that year.
Nonetheless, the Ukrainian, who is currently ranked 239 in the world, took to X by saying that she is ‘seeking justice’ for ‘moral abuse’.
“I spoke about it openly and directly. I tried to seek protection and justice within the WTA,” Tsurenko wrote.
“But in response, faced indifference and injustice, which led to a prolonged moral decline.
“Pain, fear, panic attacks, humiliation, withholding information, harassment of my team to silence me… and this isn’t even the full list of what I’ve had to endure.
“The WTA tour refused to protect a woman, a player, a human being. Instead, the WTA tour chose to protect a person in a leadership position.”
Aside from her X post, Tsurenko announced that she is taking her allegations against the WTA and Simon to a court of law.
“My last chance to defend myself, to stand up for my rights, my dignity, and to prevent such acts of violence in sports is to seek justice in court,” she stated.
“And this is the path l’m taking since the end of the last year pray to God that no one will ever experience what I’m going through and that everyone is held.”
— Lesia Tsurenko (@LTsurenko) April 16, 2025
The WTA, after hearing of the allegations, released an official statement outlining their position.
“Consistent with our position, the WTA has taken numerous steps to assist our Ukrainian player members, who have faced great challenges as professional athletes,” argued the statement.
“The WTA has been equally clear that it was founded on principles of equality and non-discrimination and its rules provide that competitions are open to all women players who qualify based on their merit, and without discrimination.
Consistent with those principles, and in common with other tennis organizations, the WTA has taken the position that individual athletes should not be penalized for the actions of their governments.”
Additionally, in a statement given to the AFP, the WTA stated that were ‘disappointed’ in the legal action that the former world No 23 has launched.
“We are disappointed that she has decided to engage in litigation to seek to hold the WTA responsible for her distress,” the WTA commented.
“At all times, the WTA and its management acted appropriately and in accordance with our rules, and we are confident that we will prevail in this litigation.”
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In March 2023, Tsurenko withdrew from her third-round match at Indian Wells due to ‘personal reasons’, however, she later clarified that it came after talks with the WTA chairman.
“A few days ago, I had a conversation with our WTA CEO Steve Simon, and I was absolutely shocked by what I heard,” the Ukrainian wrote at the time.
“He told me that he himself does not support the war, but if the players from Russia and Belarus support it, then this is only their own opinion, and the opinion of other people should not upset me. At the same time, he noted that if this had happened to him and he had been in my place, he would have felt terrible.
“In addition, he expressed confidence that the Russians and Belarusians will return to the Olympics and said that it will happen exactly as it is happening now in tennis. He also said that ‘fair play’ and Olympic principles were not violated, but on the contrary.
“It is the fact that they will perform at the Olympics that will show that these principles work, that everyone is equal and everyone has the opportunity to perform there. When asked if he understood what he was saying to me during the active phase of Russia’s military aggression in my country, he said yes, and this was his opinion.
“I was completely shocked by this conversation, and already in the last game [against Donna Vekic] it was incredibly difficult to play, difficult to gather and today, when it was time to go to the court, I had a panic attack, and I simply could not go out there. I really hope that I will be able to digest all this information and be better prepared for the next tournament.”