I thought the player realised that she should not, even if she is a fan of the team, show her views in this way at such times,” world No 1 Swiatek said.

Anastacia has had to deal with several health challengesand strokes of fate throughout her life, but she has never let them get her down. The AELTC is expecting to announce its decision regarding entries to this year’s championships in the next six weeks. Russian players had hoped to play in the third-tier ITF events in Nottingham at the end of April, after the spring press conference when a decision is expected to be announced, especially after tournament documents made no mention of the ban. However, i has been told that this was merely an oversight, and the suspension remains in place. Swiatek also said that “if there had been better leadership from the beginning, maybe we would have avoided such situation”, something that Wimbledon bosses should heed carefully. It is not clear under exactly what conditions the likes of Daniil Medvedev and Aryna Sabalenka will be allowed to return to SW19, but some sort of declaration of neutrality and the stripping of all Russian or Belarusian symbolism from their entry seems inevitable. I’ve talked to the WTA and in a way I found out that there should be less such situations because they will explain to other players that you can’t promote any Russian teams these days, which reassured me a bit.”Already after her first diagnosis, she founded the Anastacia Fund , which is part of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. She regularly raises money for the organization and the proceeds from the fourth single “Heavy on My Heart” from her album Anastacia were contributed to the organization. In December 2006, she again released three T-shirt designs with proceeds going to the Anastacia Fund. Organisers will have to incorporate all such loopholes and potential problems into any additional regulations they write for this summer’s championships. Alarms were already raised in London when a small group of Vladimir Putin’s supporters stood on the steps of the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne and sang pro-Russia songs. This was exactly the kind of thing organisers are desperate to avoid.

The singer was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease, at a young age.