Following [de] reasons beyond our control and given the geopolitical context in Ukraine, Marta Kostyuk will not be able to play the final of the 6e edition of the Negometal Open. » The press release published on the social network Facebook by the organizers of the Bourg-de-Péage (Drôme) tennis tournament will not say much more. On Sunday, December 17, the native of kyiv refused to play the match against the Russian Mirra Andreeva, who was to close the three days of competition.
Marta Kostyuk, currently 39e world, was not initially included in the program. She entered the Negometal Open thanks to the injury of Croatian Donna Vekic, winner of the previous edition. As reported The Dauphiné liberated, she knew that she could cross paths with the teenager from Siberia, the tournament management had warned her when she registered. She had accepted this possibility.
On Sunday, she finally gave up. Marta Kostyuk has not yet publicly commented on her absence. Since the invasion of her country on February 24, 2022, the player has faced Russians and Belarusians on several occasions. Aryna Sabalenka, who beat her in the first round last May at Roland Garros. Or Victoria Azarenka, who eliminated her in the second round of the US Open in September.
Unlike other sports federations, and with the exception of the 2022 edition of the Wimbledon tournament, international tennis authorities have always authorized Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete, despite the war, but under a neutral banner. Marta Kostyuk did not shake their hands, as many of her compatriots do on the circuit. But she had played.
The IOC decision
This summer, Mirra Andreeva was accused by another Ukrainian player, Dayana Yastremska, of having “liked” several messages on social networks supporting President Vladimir Putin and the offensive against her country. Dayana Yastremska then asked the WTA, the main association organizing professional women’s competitions, to sanction the teenager. Without success.
This affair also comes as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided, on December 8, that Russian and Belarusian athletes will be able to take part in the individual events of the Paris Olympic Games – from July 26 to August 11 –, without an anthem or flag. , and provided that said athletes do not actively support the war in Ukraine or are under contract with the military or national security agencies. The IOC’s announcement seemed to be the epilogue of a series that began shortly after the attack by Russian forces on its neighbor’s territory, yet certain points still remain unanswered.
Because if the Ukrainian authorities expected such a decision, they nonetheless described it as “shameful”. The presence of its delegation at the high mass in summer 2024, although it seems well underway, is not completely guaranteed either. “The status of neutrality for Russian athletes is irresponsibility”affirmed to Worldat the end of November, the Minister of Sports, Matvi Bidny, saying he was convinced that they are and will be “used by the immense propaganda machine” of the Kremlin.
On the Russian side, Vladimir Putin himself got involved in the matter on Thursday during his major annual press conference. The president said he wanted “carefully analyze the conditions” set by the IOC, before making a final decision on the participation or boycott of its members. For the president of his national Olympic committee, Stanislav Pozdniakov, behind the body’s demands lies in reality a campaign of “neutralization” targeting their best elements.
In any case, on Sunday, the organizers of the Bourg-de-Péage tournament were unable to find a replacement for Marta Kostyuk. Mirra Andreeva therefore faced… a man: Yanis Ghazouani Durand, licensed from the local club and 1,145e ATP player. And, despite her defeat (7-5, 6-2), the Russian was declared the winner of the women’s tournament.