Tennis: Svitolina protests for her Ukraine, skips the group photo at the WTA finals

It is not the first time that the group photo of the magnificent 8 qualifiers for the WTA Finals is missing some protagonists. It has already happened - as Supertennis recalls - in 2016 with Svetlana Kuznetsova and Johanna Konta, and in 2010 and 2011 with Victoria Azarenka, due to flight delays or qualification centered in the very last tournaments of the season.

But in the 2026 Indian Wells edition it is the first time that the souvenir photo is abolished in favor of individual portraits.

According to the official WTA press release, it is a different choice, a way to enhance the history and personality of each individual athlete. While various journalistic reconstructions, from the international and Russian media, attribute the change of program to the firm refusal of the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina to pose in a collective photo shoot, together with the Russian Mirra Andreeva and the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka. There must not be and cannot exist an image of commonality.

And the theme of the war in Ukraine is still the underlying theme of the new dispute that broke out between Alexander Zverev and Boris Becker: at the center of the discussion are the German number one's relationship with the fans, his attitude towards the national press and even the choice not to intervene publicly on the war between Russia and Ukraine. After the former champion's comments to Der Spiegel, Zverev decided to reply: "I think he's talking a lot of nonsense, as usual. I don't know what's happening to him at the moment, but I have the impression that he feels the need to comment on everything he does. It seems to me that he's looking for every possible excuse to belittle me. He's free to do so, of course: it's his choice."