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The governing bodies of tennis are once again in court, as veteran WTA Tour player Lesia Tsurenko has filed suit against the Tour and former CEO Steve Simon in the Southern District of New York’s district court.
That’s the same court that is adjudicating the PTPA’s suit against several of the governing bodies of tennis.
Tsurenko, 35, is demanding a jury trial to settle her claims of “breach of contract, negligence, negligent supervision and retention, negligent infliction of emotional distress”.
— Lesia Tsurenko (@LTsurenko) April 16, 2025
A statement to Open Court late Wednesday reads as follows:
“From the outset, 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. Consistent with our position, the WTA has taken numerous steps to assist our Ukrainian player members, who have faced great challenges as professional athletes.
“The WTA has been equally clear that it was founded on principles of equality and non-discrimination and its 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.
“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.”
Most of what Tsurenko is alleging in the complaint is already public knowledge; in the end, as she states in her Tweet, she felt she had no choice but to go the legal route because of the WTA’s failure to handle the very tricky situation to her satisfaction.
Currently ranked No. 239 (her career high of No. 23 came in Feb. 2019), Tsurenko hasn’t played since the semifinals of the WTA 125 Dow Tennis Classic last November.
She posted photos from both Monte Carlo (during the ATP event) and Poland in recent weeks.
The WTA Tour, represented by high-octane firm Proskauer Rose, replied to the motion claiming the suit should be dismissed, because each of Tsurenko’s claims is “legally defective”.
Ukrainians, Russians and the war
The complaint goes back to March, 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine and Tsurenko, a Ukrainian, was playing a lower-level WTA event in Guadalajara, Mexico, followed by the BNP Paribas Open event in Indian Wells, Calif.
Tsurenko’s contention is that the Ukrainian players “expected that the Russian and Belarus players would be banned” from Indian Wells, as other athletes from their countries had been in other sports.
This didn’t happen, and Tsurenko’s complaint states that the Ukrainian players “initiated a meeting to address the issue”.
Tsurenko, along with countrywomen Elina Svitolina and Marta Kostyuk, were in attendance along with two coaches, with former CEO Simon representing the WTA.
(Worth noting that neither Svitolina nor Kostyuk are a party to the complaint).
She claims Simon “took an aggressive stance but stated that if Russian or Belarus players showed public support of the war, they would be banned from any tournament sponsored by the WTA.”
Tsurenko claims that this didn’t happen – despite the fact that there were Russian and Belarusian players who publicly sported the war. She references Veronika Kudermetova’s sporting the “Tatneft” patch (a company that she states sponsored the war and was sanctioned by several Western countries) during Roland Garros, without any action taken.
The Ukrainian team planned to hold a presentation for the players to illustrate the horrors of the war. But Tsurenko said that Roland Garros tournament director Amélie Mauresmo advised them the WTA and Simon had blocked that initiative.
The complaint states Kostyuk had submitted a written complaint to the WTA, after she refused to play a doubles match against Kudermetova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, which was allegedly ignored.
It adds that the WTA and Simon “supported” the efforts by Russian and Belarussian players to reverse the ban on their participation at Wimbledon that year.
It also makes mention of the girl wrapped in a Ukrainian flag who was removed by security in Cincinnati, allegedly at the request of Russian player Anastasia Potapova. And that the WTA later stated the flag had been removed because of an issue with the size of the flag, even though the complaint states that the flag was never measured.
Another example was a match at the Australian Open in 2023 between the Ukrainian Kateryna Baindl and the Russian Kamilla Rakhimova, where there were fans in the stands with Russian flags, and wearing T-shirts sporting the image of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
A year on from the initial invasion, again at Indian Wells, Tsurenko asked for another meeting with Simon to discuss the matter. She claims that during the meeting, Simon said “It is okay to support the war. It is another person’s opinion and it should not hurt you,” and that in his opinion the Russian and Belarussian players should be able to compete at the Olympics.
After that, Tsurenko says she spoke to WTA psychologist Kathy Martin, and the next day informed various WTA officials (all of whom are lower-level staff) about Simon’s alleged position.
She said WTA vice-president Ashley Keber suggested the Ukrainian players take a “half-year break”.
Panic attack v Sabalenka
Before a scheduled match against Belarus’s Aryna Sabalenka on the stadium court at Indian Wells, Tsurenko said she had a panic attack and had trouble breathing, her hands shaking and her eyes twitching. She told the supervisor she couldn’t play, and claims the supervisor demanded that she play. But she withdrew.
That incident was fairly well-reported.
In March 2023, there was a video call with Simon, the WTA board, and WTA player council representatives Sloane Stephens and Magda Linette, where Tsyuenko raised the issue of Simon’s statements to her. Her coach, Mykyta Vlasov, made a written request to conduct an internal investigation. Three months later, Tsurenko was informed in a letter from the director of safeguarding that a case was being opened against him for violating the WTA code of conduct.
By Oct. 2023, the WTA committee sent Tsurenko a decision that stated Simon “did not violate the Code of Conduct or any provision in the Employee Handbook”. Tsurenko appealed the decision, unsuccessfully.
In short, Tsurenko accuses the WTA Tour of breaking the Code of conduct by failing “to provide reasonable accommodation to Ukrainian players, created or failed to rectify tournaments conditions that adversely affected Ukrainian players’ ability to perform their obligation as members of WTA, mentally abused Ukrainian members, including Plaintiff, involved in conduct contrary to the integrity of the game of tennis.”
Reply from the WTA
The WTA’s response is that Tsurenko’s signing of the Annual Player Form “knowingly, voluntarily, fully, and forever waive[d] any and all claims, demands, losses, or causes of action that [she], [her] heirs or legal representatives may have against” Defendants “arising in conjunction with any decision, ruling, action or inaction of [Defendants] with respect to all matters within their respective jurisdictions or areas of operation.”
They add that because the Rulebook is a contract between the player and the WTA, Simon is not individually responsible. And that because the breach of rules that Tsurenko cites refers to “tournament personnel” – and that the Tour and Simon (as an executive) do not fit that definition – it doesn’t apply.
It goes on, averring that the claim fails because Tsurenko doesn’t even provide any examples of being harassed by Russian and Belarusian players, even though she claims that the WTA failed to protect her from such harassment.
Tsurenko responds to response
A few days later (March 18), Tsurenko’s lawyer responded and stated that the WTA’s justification for dropping the claims had no legal merit, and that the “alleged waiver” signed as part of the player form was “unenforceable as overbroad and unconscionable.”
It also argue a passage in the rulebook that defines “Tournament support personnel” does include the Tour and its CEO.
Tsurenko and her lawyer claim that they weren’t even able to access the WTA’s by-laws, and the court ordered the WTA side to provide them.
In early April, the court ruled that no pre-trial conference would be necessary, and that the defendants (the WTA and Simon) could bring their motion. It also reminded Tsurenko that if she “can assert additional allegations to cure any alleged deficiencies raised by the defendants’ letter, it would be in the best interest of both the parties and the Court for her to assert them now”.
Tsurenko was given two weeks (through to tomorrow, April 17) to file an amended complaint.
And then the WTA has two weeks to inform the court about whether they still intend on filing their motion.
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