Ukrainian tennis player Elina Svitolina, who is the world's fifth biggest tennis player, has decided not to compete in a tournament in Moscow, Russia.
Moscow River Cup Director Alexander Ostrovsky cites political reasons behind her decision, the Ukrainian sport.ua news outlet reported.
"We had an agreement signed with her, but some time ago Elina and her team unfortunately decided not to go to Russia for the well-known reasons of political nature," Ostrovsky explained.
Read alsoItalian Open: Elina Svitolina beats Simona Halep in Rome final – BBC (Photos)
The WTA Moscow River Cup tournament is taking place in Moscow from July 23 to July 29 with a prize money pool of $750,000.
"If Svitolina had come, she would have been a favorite of the tournament and could have won the maximum amount of the prize money. A worthy example," Yuriy Butusov, the editor-in-chief of the censor.net news portal, commented on Facebook.
He also mentioned that another well-known Ukrainian tennis player, Serhiy Stakhovsky, neither had participated in tournaments in Russia nor communicated with Russian media since March 2014.
