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Ukrainian tennis player Marta Kostyuk has refused to play against Russia's 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva in the final of the Negometal Open de Bourge-de-Peage. It is an exhibition event in France.
The event began on Friday, December 15, in Bourg-de-Peage with the likes of Alex de-Minaur, Adrian Mannarino, David Goffin, and Lucas Pouille participating in the men's draw. On the other hand, Mirra Andreeva, Varvara Gracheva, and Donna Vekic enrolled in the women's roster.
Notably, Vekic pulled out of the tennis event and Marta Kostyuk was announced as her replacement.
Russia's Andreeva defeated Gracheva convincingly in the semifinals to set up the all-important summit clash against Ukraine's Kostyuk. However, the tournament recently announced that Kostyuk has withdrawn her name from the tie against Andreeva because of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
"Due to reasons beyond our will and given the geopolitical context in Ukraine, Marta Kostyuk will not be able to compete in the final of the 6th edition of Negometal Open," the organizers said in a statement. (translated)
The organizers further announced Frenchman Yanis Ghazouani Durand as a replacement for Kostyuk:
"We've done our best to activate our network of professional players, but the time is unfortunately too short to find a replacement. So we took the decision to compete our Peageois Yanis Ghazouani Durand against the young prodigy Mirra Andreeva."
"They don't say anything bad, but they don't say anything good either" - Marta Kostyuk on female tennis players from Russia and Belarus
Earlier this year, Marta Kostyuk revealed that only a handful of tennis players on the WTA Tour have spoken against Russia's actions on Ukrainian soil.
"Out of about 50 ... One, two, three, four, five - no more. They admitted that their country is doing something truly heinous and they want the war to end with a victory for Ukraine," Kostyuk said (via Tribuna).
"The rest may want peace, but only if Russia wins. Its citizens will gladly sacrifice millions of lives to avoid defeat. They categorically reject it, but I am sure that they will lose," she added.
The 21-year-old further stated that she understands no one among the Russian and Belarusian female tennis players wants a war but they are not concerned about the grave situation.
She said:
"Some people wonder why we don’t smile at them: 'We didn’t do anything wrong. We don't want war'. Like we want it. They don't say anything bad, but they don't say anything good either."
