the Ukrainian Kostyuk falls with the Belarusian Sabalenka and they do not shake hands

Marta Kostyuk She is one of the four Ukrainian tennis players in the world ‘top100’, but she is the most rebellious of all. She doesn’t keep quiet about what she thinks and always acts based on what she feels.

She was the first professional from her country who refused to shake hands with Russian and Belarusian tennis players due to the war that their countries are maintaining in Ukraine.

In the second round of the last US Open He did not greet the Belarusian Victoria Sabalenka and repeated that gesture in the final in Austin with Varvara Gracheva and after losing to Anastasia Potapova in the second round in Miami.

The morbidity was served when the draw led to a first round of Roland Garros between Kostyuk, the greatest representative of the Ukrainian resistance on the circuit, and Aryna Sabalenka, the tennis player closest to the Aleksandr Lukashenko dictatorship in Belarus.

Sabalenka, the best tennis player of the year and world number two, had a hard time ending her rival’s resistance. She closed the score by 6-3 and 6-2. In fact, he had to raise a ‘break’ in the first set.

If he hates me, I can’t do anything about it.”

Aryna Sabalenka

It was something more than a tennis match and the tennis player from Minsk knew it, who in the previous one regretted mixing politics with sport: “If Kostyuk hates me, I can’t do anything about it. If they shake hands with Russians and Belarusians, then many messages will reach them from their country. I understand why they don’t do it”, commented Aryna, who adorned herself at the end with a bow in the middle of the Philippe Chatrier.

Whistles from some Kostyuk fans

Part of the stands booed Kostyuk’s lack of sportsmanship while the winner wondered if the whistles were directed at her.

another ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko, went further in Indian Wells and did not even jump to play with Sabalenka. In the case of Tsurenko, he also did not shake hands with the Russian Daria Kasatkina at the last Mutua Madrid Open.

“I understand that they don’t give it to us because of the war,” reflected Kasatkina after defeating her opponent in the Caja Mágica. Anhelina Kalinina also refused to greet Veronika Kudermetova after winning the semifinals in Rome.