Oleksandra Oliynykova, ranked 65th in the WTA, criticized Russian tennis players on May 30 at the 2026 French Open for backing Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine through their tournament participation and social media activity [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. She lost in straight sets to Russia's Diana Shnaider, ranked 25th, in the tournament's third round [1, 3, 4, 5].

Oliynykova accused Shnaider directly of supporting the war by taking part in an exhibition event sponsored by Russian state energy company Gazprom [2, 3, 5]. Shnaider declined to comment on the war or the accusations, saying she played in Russian exhibitions to be with family. "I'm not going to speak anything about the situation. I'm here just to speak about tennis and about my game," Shnaider said [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].

Oliynykova said her stance was about humanity, not politics. "If I will stay silent... I don't see any sense of being here," she said. "The silence here on tour is dangerous, and that's not right." She urged tennis organizations, particularly the WTA, to sanction or block players who support or spread propaganda related to Russia's war [1, 3, 5].

"The Russian players, let's be real, they don't want to communicate. They have these horrible beliefs. For me this is something what I think we need to stop to accept in the professional sports," Oliynykova said [1]. She added, "When people are being killed, while children are dying, when violence is justified or celebrated, we cannot pretend that nothing is happening" [2].

Oliynykova’s father and boyfriend are serving soldiers, and she trained under difficult conditions in Ukraine during the conflict [2]. Since Russia's invasion in February 2022, Russian and Belarusian players have competed internationally as neutral athletes without flags on both men's and women's tours [1, 4].

Oliynykova highlighted the WTA's founding ideals, saying, "Our organisation... was not built by pioneers like Billie Jean King so that money and luxury could become the only values in women’s tennis. They wanted us to have a voice, to inspire others to make the world better" [5].

The third-round match on May 30 at Roland Garros marked a rare direct confrontation against a Russian player amid the ongoing war and sporting tensions [1, 3, 4, 5].