KIEV, Ukraine — Australian Open quarterfinalist Elina Svitolina is in a dispute with the Ukrainian Tennis Federation and has withdrawn from her country’s Fed Cup team.
Svitolina, who is ranked seventh in the world, says she can’t play upcoming Fed Cup matches in Poland because she is injured. But the federation says she and Dayana Yastremska originally agreed to play but withdrew after their agent made unreasonable financial demands.
The federation says “playing matches for your national team should be a matter of patriotism, dedication and respect for the sporting honor of Ukraine.”
Writing on Facebook, Svitolina says financial “negotiations” did take place, but the deciding factor was the neck and shoulder problem which hampered her in her Australian Open quarterfinal loss to eventual champion Naomi Osaka.
Without Svitolina and Yastremska, the Fed Cup team will instead include Lesia Tsurenko, Kateryna Kozlova, Marta Kostyuk and Nadiya Kichenok.