(Toronto) The Belarusian Victoria Azarenka, former world No.1, announced on Sunday that the Canadian authorities had refused her a visa to participate in the National Bank Open in Toronto (August 8-14). The Canadian Federation then explained that this was the result of a “processing time” problem.
Posted at 1:25 p.m.
Updated at 2:43 p.m.
« Tennis Canada confirms that Victoria Azarenka was unable to obtain a visa in time to participate [au tournoi]. The Federation worked actively on this request, with Vika and her team for several weeks, and did everything possible to validate it, but unfortunately the processing time turned out to be too long”, indicated the body in a statement sent to AFP.
“We wish Vika the best for the US hard court season and hope to see her back in Canada next year,” added Tennis Canada.
The organizer of the event, which is also that of the Masters 1000 in Montreal which will take place from Monday to next Sunday, also assured that the problem of processing Azarenka’s visa had “nothing to do with his nationality “.
Like her compatriots and the Russians, she was unable to defend her chances at Wimbledon at the end of June, the organizers of the London tournament not having authorized the representatives of these countries to participate, in response to the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army.
Tennis governing bodies have banned Russia and Belarus from international team competitions, but players are allowed to compete in WTA and ATP Tour tournaments, individually, under a neutral flag and without mention of their nationality.
“It’s a real disappointment. I am really sad to miss one of my favorite tournaments,” the current 20 announced earlier on Twitter.e world player, 33 years old, three times semi-finalist in Canada.
She was due to face the Swiss Belinda Bencic, world No.13, on Monday in the first round, with her sights set on a possible confrontation in the next round against the returning Serena Williams.
Azarenka said she will be at the WTA 1000 tournament in Cincinnati, Ohio, which begins Aug. 13 and is the final big prep tournament for the U.S. Open (Aug. 29-Sept. 11).