Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko suffered a panic attack after talking to WTA Chairman and CEO Steve Simon about the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes in tennis tournaments. The WTA world No.95 was so emotionally distressed that she had to withdraw from her third-round match at the BNP Paribas Open.
The things Tsurenko heard from the WTA chief were so disturbing to her that she suffered a mental breakdown and had difficulty breathing.
“I was absolutely shocked by what I heard from him,” a Twitter account dedicated to Ukrainian tennis quoted Tsurenko.