The silent confrontation between the Ukrainian and Russian tennis players, which began with a banal handshake after the match, has taken new forms: it went beyond the court and became stronger than ever. On the night of Thursday, July 27, the world number 145 racket, the Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska, published a statement on social networks related to the Russian Mirra Andreeva.
Yastremskaya, whom Mirra literally defeated with a “shuttlecock” at a tournament in Lausanne, accused the 16-year-old of liking pro-Russian posts on social media.
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“I would like to publish information about the recent situation in Switzerland, which I find unacceptable. I recently called for sanctions against Mirra Andreeva for liking social media posts that clearly dealt with actions against Ukrainians, and the WTA simply said it would not interfere. I am upset, but I will continue to fight for my country, family and friends, ”the Ukrainian tennis player complained on her social networks.
Ukrainian journalists published the same video.
In the statement, Yastremskaya did not specify which specific posts Andreeva liked. Although foreign journalists already got the very video that the young Russian woman liked.
According to the British publication Ubitennis.net, citing the profile of Ukrainian tennis on social networks, Andreeva liked the video with the participation of the presidents of Russia and Ukraine, Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky.
Subscribers considered the video to be pro-Russian. It was published on Monday, July 24. In a few days, the video exceeded 90 thousand likes. For the time being, the social media post has disappeared.
Andreeva is active on social networks. She often likes meme posts, she posts her own photos and reacts to the posts of those she follows. However, the 16-year-old tennis player has previously disliked videos on a political topic.
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The history of the confrontation between Russian women and Ukrainian women.
On the court, the tennis players met only once. This week the first match between Mirra and Dayana took place.
The athletes turned out to be rivals against each other in the first round of the WTA-250 series tournament in Lausanne (Switzerland). Andreeva made her debut at these competitions as a seeded tennis player, and Yastremskaya went through the main ranking.
The match between the Russian and the Ukrainian lasted 1 hour and 5 minutes and ended in favor of Mirra with a score of 6:0, 6:2. At the same time, Andreeva could not move further up the grid: already in the second round she was defeated by the Hungarian Anna Bondar (6: 7, 3: 6).
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Three days after meeting Mirra in Switzerland, Yastremskaya released a statement about the 16-year-old’s likes on social media.
How Russian and foreign fans reacted
Journalists and experts have not yet commented on the situation with Andreeva and Yastremskaya – there is not enough clarity and official explanations. However, fans have already reacted to Yastremskaya’s posts and the alleged video that she liked Andreeva.
Mirra’s fan account on social media reposted Yastremskaya’s statement, signing it: “Well, I laughed.” And she opened the doors in the comments for everyone who is interested in the situation that has arisen between Ukrainian and Russian tennis players.
“Well, what a joke! We love Mirra,” wrote user papapatrick.
“I think this is exactly what you need to focus on after losing 0:6, 2:6. What a loser” (Samiracles).
“Yastremskaya is right. They should not be admitted to tournaments, not even regardless of their age” (Leo Bozzuto).
“Freedom of expression is an innate right of every human being. Dayana has the right to share her emotions in posts about what Mirra might like. On the other hand, Andreeva has the right to like any content that she wants ”(ortolan).
Russian fans also commented on the story of Andreeva’s likes.
“Take into account the likes on other people’s posts, when every second hit flies into the fence, it’s strong” (monkeydreams).
“I wonder how he determined who and what liked it?” (gusarspb)
“Look forward to victories!!!” (ignatxaritonovich)
At the same time, there were no official explanations from the representatives of the tennis players. The WTA also did not comment on the situation between Andreeva and Yastremskaya.
