Lesia Tsurenko accuses Steve Simon, the former president of the WTA, harassment. “I pray to God that no one will go through what I went through.”

Lesia Tsurenko published a letter on Wednesday attacking former WTA CEO, Steve Simon. She accuses him of “mental abuse” in a discussion that took place a few years ago.

“It is time to tell the truth,” Tsurenko began a letter telling his version of what happened a few years ago, during the period of prohibition at Wimbledon for Tennis players in Russia and Belarus, when the war between Russia and Ukraine began.

At that moment, a conversation between Simon and her appeared, in which the tennis player claims that he felt “harassed” and completely “abandoned”.

Lesia Tsurenko, hard attack at Steve Simon

“Ever since I was a child I have dreamed of becoming a professional tennis player. I went over countless obstacles to my dream. I have given all my strength, soul and everything in me. Being a professional athlete means hard work and I think all players will agree with me. It is a work in which one day.

Even in my worst nightmares I could not imagine that a professional circuit, which I considered my home, will turn into a terrifying place, in which the general manager of the organization (Steve Simon) knowingly committed an act of moral abuse against me, which led to a panic attack and to the impossibility of doing my job.

I talked about this directly and open. I tried to seek protection and justice within the WTA, but, in response, I found indifference and injustice, which led to a prolonged moral decline. Pain, fear, panic attacks, humiliation, information restraint and harassing my team to silence. And this is just part of the list of things I had to endure.

WTA refused to protect a woman, a tennis player, a human being. Instead, the female circuit chose to protect a person in a leading position. My last chance to defend my rights, dignity and prevent this type of violence in sports is to ask for justice in court. This is the path we have chosen since the end of last year.

I pray to God that no one will go through what I went through and that everyone will be held accountable for their own actions, ”sounds the letter of the player in Ukraine.

Lesia Tsurenko felt unprotected by WTA

Ukrainian has talked about these things in the past. In 2023, Tsurenko, former Top 30 players, claimed that he suffered a panic attack after a conversation with Simon, who complained about the quality of the balls from Monterrey, as well as his support so that the Russian and Belarus players could compete in tournaments such as Wimbledon and the Olympic Games.

He was also unprotected by the people of the WTA leadership, when he had to go to tournaments and leave his home after the outbreak of the war.

She no longer played a match in the professional circuit at the end of 2024, when she was present on the Midland (US) painting, a WTA 125 tournament.