Elliott: Indian Wells players united in their disgust over the war in Ukraine

The message was conveyed in small letters printed inconsistently however defiantly on the aspect of Russian tennis participant Anna Kalinskaya’s proper shoe. NO WAR, the phrases stated in black ink that stood out starkly in opposition to a bubblegum-pink background.

The message got here throughout loud and clear when Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine, who had spent two nights in an underground parking storage in her hometown of Odessa to flee Russian assaults earlier than her mother and father despatched her and her youthful sister Ivanna to security in France, had a Ukraine flag draped round her shoulders when she walked out to the courtroom at Stadium 1 for her first-round match on the BNP Paribas Open on Wednesday.

“You continue to have quite a lot of ideas about it. You continue to assume loads about it,” stated Yastremska, who organized the flag round her shoulders once more as she left the courtroom after Caroline Garcia outlasted her 6-4, 6-7 (8), 7-5.

Iga Swiatek of Poland, the No. 3 ladies’s seed on the Indian Wells match, despatched her a message by way of social media. She promised that in her matches right here she is going to put on a small ribbon within the blue and yellow colours of Ukraine’s flag as a result of “I wish to present, even when symbolically, my solidarity with Ukraine.” She really useful contributing to humanitarian assist organizations, together with the Polish Pink Cross, and added, “I’m in opposition to this struggle and the struggling of harmless folks.”

Russia’s horrifying invasion of Ukraine was on the minds of many gamers as competitors started Wednesday. The principle governing our bodies of tennis had decreed gamers from Russia and Belarus — which has supported Russia’s aggression — wouldn’t be allowed to show their nation’s flag, however that’s little greater than a slap on the wrist.

And as males’s world No. 1 Daniil Medvedev identified, Russian gamers are accustomed to competing underneath a impartial flag on the Olympics within the wake of Russia being banned from the Video games because the consequence of its state-run doping schemes. “Not less than we will play,” stated Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, the No. 2 ladies’s seed.

Prohibiting gamers from these international locations from competing in tournaments can be the following and extra drastic step. That concept has occurred to Medvedev, he acknowledged Wednesday.

“We by no means know,” he stated throughout a pretournament information convention. “The best way the scenario is evolving in different sports activities, some sports activities made this determination, particularly the crew sports activities. Tennis might be one of the vital particular person sports activities now we have on the planet. All people has his personal crew, many occasions from totally different international locations. Out of high 100 gamers everyone’s residing in so many alternative locations.

“There’s at all times a risk, however I hope not.”

Sabalenka stated she can be keen to put on a ribbon exhibiting assist for the folks of Ukraine.

“I can put on it and I don’t really feel dangerous carrying it,” she stated. “I really feel folks want our assist. The phrase unhappy just isn’t the proper phrase. All of us care about them and all of us hope for the perfect and for the peace and carrying the ribbon there’s nothing dangerous about it. I’ll be comfy carrying it.”

She additionally stated she hadn’t heard any harsh phrases from Ukrainian gamers, however the ambiance within the locker room is extra tense than prior to now.

“I feel they perceive that there’s nothing we will do about it,” she stated. “I nonetheless converse with all women and we’re nonetheless sort of pals however proper now everyone seems to be sort of apprehensive and it’s not like everyone seems to be glad inside our space, prefer it was. We nonetheless discuss to one another. It’s not battle between us.”

Buoyed by adrenaline and a dedication to signify her nation nicely, Yastremska reached the ultimate of a match in Lyon, France, final week and was given a wild-card spot right here. The journey to the US exhausted her. She saved two match factors within the second set in opposition to Garcia however she ran out of vitality, understandably succumbing to bodily and psychological exhaustion.

“It was very nice to play right here. I actually love this match,” stated Yastremska, who’s ranked 103rd on the planet after peaking at No. 21 in January of 2020. “I felt like I wasn’t actually ready.”

She has needed to develop up too quick, tearfully forsaking her mother and father, Oleksander and Marina, and changing into the guardian of her 15-year-old sister. They’ll crew up in doubles right here. They’re nonetheless fearful about their mother and father and pals again house, however at the least the sisters shall be collectively and secure. “It’s sort of unhappy however I’ve to proceed,” Yastremska stated. “I’ve to play and I’ve to maintain myself up.”

From the rubble of one thing horrible some small bits of excellent have emerged. Andy Murray pledged to offer the remainder of his 2022 earnings to UNICEF for assist to Ukraine. Swiatek has discovered her voice, rising as a pacesetter of the technology that’s taking up ladies’s tennis.

“I nonetheless need sports activities to attach folks,” she stated. “At this time it could join in serving to and standing in opposition to the struggle, in actions that we’re capable of take.”

Amen.