© Getty Images Sport – Matthew Stockman
Former Ukrainian tennis player Sergiy Stakhovsky is applauding Daria Kasatkina for publicly criticizing the Russian invasion of Ukraine and added the situation would probably be different if more athletes and people from Russia opted to do the same.
Last year, Kasatkina was the top-ranked Russian female player when she described the situation in Ukraine as “a nightmare.” As a result, Kasatkina faced backlash from certain Russian politicians and there were even calls for her to be listed as “a foreign agent.” This year, Kasatkina admitted that she hasn’t been to Russia since making her views about the war and that she can’t go back there, at least not until the current government is still in charge.
“I do believe that if all the sports and all the people in Russia who are against the war would be the same vocal as [Kasatkina] was, there would be a completely different picture,” Stakhovsky told BBC Radio 5 Live.
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