Ukrainian tennis player won’t play Russian unless tours act

NEW YORK (AP) — A Ukrainian tennis player who is seeded No. 1 at the Monterrey Open does not want to face a Russian opponent at the Mexican tournament unless tennis’s governing bodies follow the International Olympic Committee’s lead and insist that players from Russia and Belarus are only identified as “neutral athletes.” Elina Svitolina wrote on Twitter that she would not play her opening-round contest against Anastasia Potapova “nor any other match against Russian or Belarussian tennis players until” the WTA women’s tour, ATP men’s tour and International Tennis Federation “follow the recommendations of the IOC” and bar those countries’ competitors from using any national symbols, colors, flags or anthems. The Russian military assault on Ukraine was into its fifth day.