Tennis - WTA 1000 - Qatar Open - Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex, Doha, Qatar - February 13, 2024 Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko in action during her round of 32 match against Tunisia's Ons Jabeur REUTERS/Ibraheem Al Omari
(Reuters) -Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko said she has initiated legal action against the WTA alleging "moral abuse" from an unnamed executive of the elite women's tour which led to panic attacks and hampered her career.
Tsurenko, who has talked frequently about the challenges of competing on the tour since Russia's invasion, pulled out of a match in 2023 after saying she had a panic attack following a conversation with WTA leadership about its response to the war.
"I spoke about it openly and directly," Tsurenko wrote on social media platform X on Wednesday.
"I tried to seek protection and justice within the WTA. But in response, I faced indifference and injustice, which led to a prolonged moral decline."
Reuters has contacted the WTA for comment.
Following her withdrawal from the Indian Wells match in 2023, the WTA responded to her comments by saying it had "consistently reflected our full support for Ukraine and strongly condemn the actions that have been brought forth by the Russian government".
Tsurenko, 35, wrote that the WTA Tour had become a "terrifying" and "alien" place for her now.
"Pain, fear, panic attacks, humiliation, withholding information, harassment of my team to silence me ... and this isn't even the full list of what I've had to endure," she said.
"The WTA Tour refused to protect a woman, a player, a human being. Instead, the WTA Tour chose to protect a person in a leadership position.
"My last chance to defend myself, to stand up for my rights, my dignity, and to prevent such acts of violence in sports is to seek justice in court."
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
