"Make up your damn mind" - Tennis fans react to Victoria Azarenka's last-minute exclusion from US Open charity match for Ukraine

The US Open announced Belarusian player Victoria Azarenka's exclusion from the exhibition event to be held on Wednesday night as a show of support towards Ukraine in light of the ongoing war.

While Azarenka was willing to participate in the event and express her support for Ukraine, she was asked to step aside, much to the disappointment of tennis fans.

As per reports, a number of Ukrainian players, including Marta Kostyuk, opposed Azarenka's inclusion in the charity event due to her home nation Belarus' support of Russia. The United States Tennis Association (USTA), organizers of the US Open, announced the two-time Grand Slam champion's exclusion from the 'Tennis Plays for Peace Exhibition' event on the day of the event.

"Vika is a strong player leader and we appreciate her willingness to participate. Given the sensitivities to Ukrainian players, and the on-going conflict, we believe this is the right course of action for us," the USTA said in a statement.

Reacting to the development, many fans expressed their sheer dissent with the decision and empathized with Victoria Azarenka for not being able to openly show her support towards Ukraine.

Meanwhile, some fans opined that Ukrainian players should have been consulted before announcing Azarenka as a participant in the first place.

"So do they want Russian and Belarussian players’ support or not? make up your damn mind," one fan wrote.

"I’m speechless. Yes, what Russia is doing is far worse than anything that could ever happen on a tennis court. I just don’t understand how rejecting the support of someone you once called a colleague and a friend, just bc of where they were born, could ever be useful to the cause," read another tweet.

Here are a few more reactions from fans to Victoria Azarenka's exclusion from the exhibition event at the US Open:

While Azarenka misses out, the likes of Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Rafael Nadal, and Carlos Alcaraz, among others, are all set to participate in the 'Tennis Plays for Peace Exhibition' event.

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Marta Kostyuk declines invitation to play charity event due to Victoria Azarenka's inclusion

2022 French Open - Day Six

Earlier this week, Ukrainian player Marta Kostyuk announced that she had declined an invitation to play in the US Open charity event for her country due to the inclusion of a few Russian and Belarusian players, including Victoria Azarenka.

Kostyuk stated that her compatriot Lesia Tsurenko joined her in the decision and they were unhappy about not being consulted by the organizers on the inclusion of Russian and Belarusian players.

"Of course, I received an invitation. I think all our players got them," Kostyuk told BTU Portal. "When Lesya Tsurenko and I found out - I'm only talking about us now, because we didn't ask anyone - so when we found out that there would be representatives of Russia or Belarus at this event, I immediately said that I will not participate in this."

"First of all, no one asked the Ukrainian athletes if they wanted any of these players to be present. Of course, no one is interested in this, it is the Independence Day of Ukraine, but what Ukrainians think is not interesting, is it?" she added.

World No. 26 Victoria Azarenka will next be seen in the main draw of the 2022 US Open. She lost in the second round of last week's Cincinnati Open to defending US Open champion Emma Raducanu after winning her opening match against Kaia Kanepi. Azarenka missed the Canadian Open earlier this month as she was not granted a visa to enter Canada and play in the WTA 1000 event in Toronto.

Also Checkout:- US Open 2022 Schedule