– Djoković sent me a support message, we even talked a bit. I tried to get in touch with Nadal, but they preferred to remain silent. I understand them, it’s not their war. We have the support of great personalities, I hope it will survive – said Sergei Stachowski in an interview with the Italian daily “La Stampa”.
Behavior should come as no surprise to anyone. The runner-up of the ATP ranking as a child survived the bombing of Belgrade during the Yugoslav civil war in the 1990s. A few years ago, he even showed the media the shelters in which he and his family were hiding from air raids.
Stachowski is fighting in Ukraine
After making sure that his family safely reached Hungary, Stachowski returned to Ukraine to defend his country. “Of course I will fight, that’s the only reason I came back,” the tennis player told Sky News. – I signed up for the Territorial Defense. I have no military experience, but I have private experience with weapons – he added.
Other outstanding athletes also returned to Ukraine, including boxing champion O³eksandr Usyk. The brothers Witalij and W³adimir Klitschko defend Kiev.
The 36-year-old Stachowski played only one game this year. He was eliminated in the first qualifying round of the Australian Open. The Ukrainian was ranked 31st in the world in his career (September 2010). Today he is 233. One of his greatest successes was defeating Roger Federer in the second round of Wimbledon 2013.
Russians can play
The Russian Tennis Federation and the Belarusian Tennis Federation have been suspended in team competitions. In recent days, many representatives of Russian tennis have published anti-war entries, including the leader of the ranking Danił Medvedev, the sixth in the world Andrei Rublev or the highest-ranked Russian (14th WTA) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. The latter admitted in an interview with CNN: “Private ambitions or political motives cannot justify violence.”
– Limiting ourselves to prohibiting the use of representative symbols by these tennis players is a blow to Olympic ideas, but above all a slap aimed at Ukrainian citizens dying in the war and a slap against the community of all countries in the world supporting a free and independent Ukraine – we read in the statement of the Polish Tennis Association.
Source: Sport
Tristin is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
