A planned women’s tennis match at the Open de Tennis de Bourg-de-Péage exhibition in France turned into a battle of the sexes after one player withdrew at the last minute due to ‘geopolitical’ reasons.
World No.39 Marta Kostyuk was scheduled to play Russian 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva on Sunday but pulled out of the match just hours before it was due to take place. Kostyuk entered the event as a replacement for Donna Vekic and had direct entry into the final. After she had entered the competition, Andreeva defeated Russian-born French player Varvara Gracheva to book a place in the final.
The showdown was called off after an official statement was issued by organizers confirming that Kostyuk would not be playing due to ‘reasons beyond their will.’ A reference to the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia. Players from those countries do play against each other on the Tour but Ukranians refused to shake hands after their matches to show solidarity with those fighting back home.
“Due to reasons beyond our will and given the geopolitical context in Ukraine, Marta Kostyuk will not be able to compete in the final of the 6th edition of Negometal Open,” a statement read.
“We’ve done our best to activate our network of professional players, but the time is unfortunately too short to find a replacement.”
It is unclear as to why Kostyuk didn’t adopt the protocol of playing without shaking hands against Andreeva. In a brief text message exchange between the tennis star and Ubitennis, the 21-year-old politely declined to speak about the situation when asked.
“I prefer not to comment on this matter. Thank you for understanding,’ she said.
As a consequence of the withdrawal, Andreeva ended up playing a match against a male player as it was too short of notice to find another woman. Yanis Ghazouani Durand, who is currently ranked 1145th on the ATP Tour, stepped in to fill the gap. He won the final 7-5, 6-2.
