NEW YORK — Ukrainian tennis veteran Lesia Tsurenko has escalated her dispute with the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), filing an amended federal lawsuit that accuses the organization and its chairman, Steve Simon, of breaching a commitment, negligence, and causing emotional harm through their policies regarding Russian and Belarusian athletes in the wake of the war in Ukraine.
The revised complaint, submitted Tuesday in the Southern District of New York, stems from what Tsurenko calls a failure by WTA leadership to uphold assurances given to Ukrainian players. According to the filing, WTA officials — including Simon, then CEO — had allegedly promised that players who publicly supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would face consequences, including potential bans.
Among Tsurenko's specific grievances is Russian player Veronika Kudermetova wearing a patch representing Taneft, a company linked to Russian military supply chains and sanctioned by the European Union. Tsurenko's filing asserts, "Despite this promise, neither Defendant Steve Simon nor Defendant WTA banned Russian and Belarus players who publicly supported the war."
Tsurenko, a former top-25 player, claims that the WTA's inaction resulted in serious psychological distress. She described suffering a panic attack before a scheduled match at Indian Wells due to the potential of facing a Russian or Belarusian opponent. The lawsuit alleges she experienced "excessive stress, loss of concentration affecting her performance at tennis games, mortification and injury to her feelings."
The WTA, in a statement to the Associated Press, responded by reaffirming its stance:
"The WTA has been steadfast and clear in its condemnation of Russia’s war on Ukraine and the actions of the Russian government against the Ukrainian people."
It further emphasized its founding principles of fairness and non-discrimination:
"Our rules provide that competitions are open to all women players who qualify based on their merit, and without discrimination... Consistent with those principles, and in common with other tennis organizations, the WTA has taken the position that individual athletes should not be penalized for the actions of their governments."
The current WTA policy aligns with broader tennis governance. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, the WTA, ATP, and International Tennis Federation have permitted Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete, provided they do so under neutral flags. That approach extended to the 2023 Paris Olympics, where Russian players Mirra Andreeva and Diana Shnaider competed and earned silver medals in women's doubles as “Individual Neutral Athletes.”
In a social media post on Tuesday, Tsurenko expressed deep disillusionment:
"Even in my worst nightmares, I couldn't imagine that the professional tour, which I considered my home, would become a terrifying and alien place, where the (former) CEO of the organization consciously committed an act of moral abuse against me, leading to a panic attack and my inability to do my job."
The WTA's own director of safeguarding, Lindsay Brandon, had previously informed Tsurenko in 2023 that Simon would be investigated for a potential violation of the code of conduct. However, the organization later concluded that no violation had occurred. Tsurenko's appeal of that decision was also denied.
The original complaint, filed in November, seeks a jury trial. Legal representatives for the WTA, the law firm Proskauer Rose, filed a motion to dismiss the case last month, calling the claims “legally defective.” The WTA now has until April 30 to decide whether it will pursue the motion to dismiss or respond to the amended filing.
In a statement on Wednesday, the WTA added:
"While the WTA has the greatest sympathy for the significant challenges that Ms. Tsurenko and our other Ukrainian athletes have faced, we are disappointed that she has decided to engage in litigation to seek to hold the WTA responsible for her distress. At all times, the WTA and its management acted appropriately and in accordance with our rules, and we are confident that we will prevail in this litigation."