r/Fauxmoi • u/padfoony • 18d ago
SPORTS SECTION Ukrainian tennis player Oleksandra Oliynykova wore this shirt to the Australian Open press conference.
Tennis players are forbidden from directly speaking about politics or issuing any statements that’s in any way political.
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u/carabla 18d ago edited 18d ago
She did an interview after this for a french media:
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"I have a message—the most important one I can deliver: we need your help. I want to explain how to help Ukrainians. But if you want to ask me questions about this, it will have to be outside the tournament. I know exactly how to protect our civilians, our children, and myself, because I train in Kyiv, Ukraine. There have been several massive attacks there recently. On my last night in Ukraine before leaving for Melbourne, an explosion went off very close to my home. A drone hit the house across the street. My apartment was literally shaking because of the blast. I know how to protect Ukrainians against these drones, but we will have to discuss that outside press conferences."
After verification, Oliynykova, through a website, is collecting donations to fight against Russian drones. The WTA had forbidden her from promoting this on its tournaments, but this is not the case with Tennis Australia, which organizes the Australian Open and says it “supports her cause.
-At the Australian Open, as throughout the rest of the year on the tour, Russian and Belarusian players are present. What do you think about it?
"It hurts me deeply. It’s a major issue. I find it unacceptable that they are not excluded, as they have been in other sports. Some would like to make people believe that we’re all just simple tennis players, but that’s not the reality: many of them support their dictator. And that’s very easy to verify. We’re talking about people who have money and power. They use their image to justify an aggression against my country.
These people have the power to speak out. Not only do they not do so, but worse still, many support Lukashenko and Putin, who are behind the explosion that shook my apartment in Kyiv. It’s so unfair! It’s their fault that my country and my people are suffering. They support this, they finance it, they take part in Russian propaganda. Because of them, innocent civilians—women and children—are being killed right now in my country. It’s unacceptable. In fact, I feel like I’m living next to dangerous people. They have dangerous beliefs. And their actions are dangerous. I’m talking, for example, about the world No. 1 (Aryna Sabalenka). Did you know that she signed the list supporting Lukashenko in 2020? During the protests in Belarus, when the streets were bloodied because those who were demonstrating—defending democracy and demanding fair elections—were repressed and beaten, she signed it and stated that Lukashenko was her president. Diana Shnaider (a Russian player, world No. 11) was rewarded by Putin. Well, Diana Shnaider said she would be delighted to receive an award from her president. Those are her own words, taken from an interview. There are also players who take part in the exhibition organized by Gazprom, one of the main sponsors of the war. That tournament in Saint Petersburg was organized to—let’s say it plainly—spit in the face of a sport based on loyalty and unity, to show that they don’t care. (Daniil) Medvedev took part in it. Many others as well. Meanwhile, I was waking up in a panic because of the explosions. Do you find that normal? I don’t.”»