{"id":674273,"date":"2026-05-30T14:46:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T14:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/674273\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T14:46:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T14:46:15","slug":"oleksandra-oliynykova-will-not-separate-her-grand-slam-success-from-advocacy-for-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/674273\/","title":{"rendered":"Oleksandra Oliynykova will not separate her Grand Slam success from advocacy for Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Athletic\u00a0has live coverage from Day 7 at Roland Garros.<\/a><\/p>\n

PARIS \u2014 First you notice the body art.<\/p>\n

Stars across the cheeks. Piercings in the upper lower lip. Tattoos on her neck and chest and down her left arm.<\/p>\n

Then, Oleksandra Oliynykova<\/a>\u2019s game captures the imagination, a throwback approach that mixes moonballs and slices and drop shots, making her powerful putaways and searing attacks even more striking.<\/p>\n

Then the 25-year-old from Ukraine starts speaking about Russia\u2019s invasion of her country, and the impact it has had on her, her family, her people, and her sport, and the full force of her fearlessness comes through.<\/p>\n

During this year\u2019s Australian Open, Oliynykova directly criticized leading tennis players<\/a>, including Belarusian world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and 2021 U.S. Open champion Daniil Medvedev. She described them as \u201cdangerous people,\u201d and has continued to level broadsides at figures in her sport who, she says, engaged with or praised state-sponsored activities, or the leaders of the Russian and Belarusian governments.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want peace, and if I could change anything, I would definitely do that,\u201d Sabalenka said in a news conference. Medvedev said he respected Oliynykova\u2019s views, which have placed her at the intersection of sports and free speech.<\/p>\n

In late April, Oliynykova said in social media posts that the WTA Tour had \u201cthreatened\u201d<\/a> her with \u201cfines of tens of thousands of dollars\u201d and disqualification from tournaments for criticizing specific players.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will continue to speak as things are. I will not let them break me, and I will not let them silence me. In the end, I simply cannot accept this level of pressure and censorship \u2014 because then I see no point,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

In a statement on Oliynykova\u2019s allegations, a WTA spokesperson said via email that \u201cthe WTA recognizes that the ongoing war in Ukraine continues to have a profound and deeply personal impact on many of our athletes. We remain unequivocal in condemning Russia\u2019s war on Ukraine and have consistently supported our Ukrainian players since the start of the conflict.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an extraordinarily sensitive situation, and we understand players will have strong personal views. All WTA athletes have the right to express themselves. At the same time, the WTA is committed to maintaining a professional and respectful environment for all athletes, regardless of nationality or country of origin. Our Code of Conduct exists to uphold this standard consistently across the Tour.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t care about their opinions,\u201d Oliynykova, one of the only players from Ukraine who still lives and trains there, said of anyone who criticizes her outspokenness, in an interview following her second-round French Open win over Kimberly Birrell of Australia Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to stay alive and I want to bring attention to Ukraine and to the things these people are doing so we can finish this war faster, in the fair way.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the French Open, Oliynykova has adorned her racket bag with the triton symbol of the Ukraine army, and another with the flag of Ukraine. On the second, she also has a white-red-white flag, a historical flag of the Belarusian Democratic Republic which is now used as a symbol by separatist movements in the country. Oliynykova said that her father, Denis Oliynyk, who serves as her coach and also in a volunteer with Ukraine\u2019s army, has been part of those movements too.<\/p>\n

At the end of her post-match news conference on Thursday, Oliynykova pointed to the patch and explained its meaning for the video recording.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m still wearing it, I\u2019m bringing this on my matches here,\u201d she said, saying that officials had told her she could not use it. \u201cI\u2019m playing for my values.\u201d<\/p>\n

The WTA rulebook states that logos, slogans and symbols associated with political movements are not permitted for display before, during and after matches. The Grand Slam rulebook does not include a provision.<\/p>\n

\"Oleksandra<\/p>\n

\n Oleksandra Oliynykova has been steadfast in speaking about Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine. (Marcin Golba \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

For Oliynykova, that was a relatively benign moment compared with a few minutes before. Oliynykova\u2019s third-round was Diana Shnaider, a young Russian who played in a tennis exhibition sponsored by Gazprom, the Russian energy magnate that has supported the Russian war effort, toward the end of last year. Oliynykova criticized her for it at the Australian Open, and\u00a0went after Shnaider once again Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Gazprom tournament is a company which is financing the war crimes\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s the same as playing in Nazi Germany for Gestapo officers, on the tournament organized by company which built Auschwitz. There is no difference for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

A representative of Shnaider, and officials at the FFT and WTA Tour, did not respond to messages seeking comment on Oliynykova\u2019s statements nor whether she had violated rules with the patches on her bag, but a member of her team met with WTA Tour communications Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n

In a news conference after a 7-5, 6-1 win Saturday, in which she came from 3-0 down in the opening set, Shnaider defended her decision to participate in the Gazprom-sponsored tournament on the same terms as she did at January\u2019s Australian Open.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t saw any of her comments or press conferences. Speaking of exhibition tournament, you know, I\u2019m traveling all year-round. I\u2019m not seeing my family or my friends, and I have the only one opportunity to play in front of my family, in front of my friends, just to spend a little more time at home.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see it as an opportunity just to, you know, show some good tennis for my family. I mean, it\u2019s the only opportunity, so I got to use it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through her advocacy, Oliynykova has been riding a late-bloom rise into middle of the top 100. She\u2019s currently the world No. 65, though that\u2019s up significantly from well outside the top 200 a year ago. Her two wins at the French Open this week were her first at a Grand Slam.<\/p>\n

Her father said it has been a two-year process of growing up and gaining the necessary patience. Not just to harness the power of her main motivation to succeed, but to play with her unique style, which demands intense concentration and discipline.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has a stronger motivation than any player,\u201d he said in a courtside interview after her second-round win.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlso, her style requires growth. She plays tennis. Most other players these days hit tennis, not play. The big serve and then the forehand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oliynykova can do some of that, but more often she is attempting to beguile opponents with her variety. She hit underarm serves \u2014 a rarity in tennis and especially the women\u2019s game \u2014 on match point two consecutive matches. One worked, the other didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it\u2019s nothing special,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Her outspokenness has also become a kind of soundtrack to success in Ukrainian women\u2019s tennis, which has been going on all spring and has continued at this tournament. Marta Kostyuk<\/a> and Elina Svitolina have won three tournaments, including the two at the highest level outside the Grand Slams, the WTA 1000s in Madrid and Rome.<\/p>\n

Those two, plus Oliynykova and Yuliia Starodubtseva, gave Ukraine four players in the last 32. All of players still have family in Ukraine. Kostyuk and Svitolina won Friday to make the last 16, while Starodubtseva, who beat world No. 2 Elena Rybakina in the previous round, lost a tight duel to Wang Xiyu of China.<\/p>\n

A graduate of Old Dominion University, Va., Starodubtseva has not been home since the start of the war. Her mother has moved to Ireland and her sister is playing college tennis at Louisiana Tech University. Her father and grandparents live in what is at the moment Russian-occupied territory.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to balance both lives,\u201d she said in an interview Friday.<\/p>\n

She and Kostyuk both said they are behind Oliynykova in her statements about the war.<\/p>\n

\u201cI fully agree with everything she says,\u201d Kostyuk said of Oliynykova after beating Viktorija Golubic in straight sets, for her 15th consecutive win.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something that, you know, she feels like she should be doing, I\u2019m fully supportive of this. I don\u2019t think she says anything bad about anyone. She\u2019s usually just talking about facts and what actually happened, which I don\u2019t think it\u2019s ever a bad thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kostyuk still talks about her country\u2019s plight, but no longer leads with it, as she did in the first 18 months after the 2022 invasion. She found it too straining, with the emotional weight of competing with the war front and center in her mind knocking her off course. After her first-round win in Paris, she said that a missile had landed \u201d100 meters\u201d from her parents\u2019 home in Kyiv<\/a> just hours before.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really couldn\u2019t do it back then, I could not separate it,\u201d she said of Oliynykova. \u201cAnd she\u2019s doing it, and congrats. I mean, it\u2019s very impressive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oliynykova said that so far, it\u2019s no problem for her.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot of motivation for me to be here, to speak, and to do the best I can for my country, for my people,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, tennis is just a game.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Athletic\u00a0has live coverage from Day 7 at Roland Garros. PARIS \u2014 First you notice the body art.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":674274,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[690,99,428],"class_list":["post-674273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-culture","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/674274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}