When War Follows You Onto the Court: Tsurenko v. WTA Tour and the Limits of Athlete Protection

By Anna Giambelluca, Esq, Legal Editor When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Lesia Tsurenko was in Mexico preparing to play tennis. Within hours, she claims the atmosphere at the tournament shifted: Russian players stopped speaking to their Ukrainian counterparts. Over the next two years, Tsurenko would put pressure on the Women’s Tennis Association to do something about it. What she found, and what a federal court confirmed in March 2026, is that the law offers athletes very littl