Elena Dementieva refuses to play in Belgium again.

TeamWTA photo.
By Etienne Stekelenburg
February 5 2005

Elena Dementieva will not play at the Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp. She has made it clear that, after the accusation of using doping at the Women’s Trophy in Charleroi, she will never play in Belgium again. Dementieva will be replace by Nathalie Dechy of France or Swiss Patty Schnyder.

Russian Elena Dementieva is still not very pleased with the way her name was linked to the dope accusation of Svetlana Kuznetsova in Charleroi during the exhibition tournament Women’s Trophy of last year.

Bob Verbeeck, the Proximus Diamond Games tournament director stated that the first replacement would be Nathalie Dechy of France. She was losing to Lindsay Davenport of the Australian Open semi final last week.

Second option for a replacement will be Patty Schnyder of Switzerland if the Frenchwoman does not want to play in Antwerp.