(CNN) — Ukrainian tennis player Marta Kostyuk refused to shake hands with her Belarusian rival Aryna Sabalenka after their first round match at the French Open, prompting boos from the crowd.
After Sabalenka prevailed 6-3, 6-2, Kostyuk made a beeline for the referee to shake her hand, then returned to his seat, refusing to meet Sabalenka at the net for the customary handshake.
The Roland Garros crowd booed Kostyuk again when he left the court.
Kostyuk, originally from Kyiv, declared at the Australian Open in January that she would not shake hands with any Russian or Belarusian opponents while a war was going on in her country.
Kostyuk was booed as she left the track. (Credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
Sabalenka had to face some tough questions in her post-match press conference, including from a journalist who accused her of “misrepresenting the situation as if the Ukrainians hate her” and of “avoiding” questions in which she asked him to condemn the war, as Belarus is being used as a key theater of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Sabalenka said in March that it was hard for her to understand the “hate” she was encountering in the locker room amid strained relations between some players following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“First of all, when they ask me about the Ukrainians, [los periodistas] they ask me: ‘So, you know they hate you? So I answer the questions: ‘If they hate me’.
“About the war situation, I’ve said it many, many times, no one in this world — Russian athletes, Belarusians — supports war. No one. How can we support war? Normal people will never support it.”
“Why do we have to speak loud [en público] and saying things, it’s like saying ‘one plus one equals two’, you know, of course we don’t support war. And if we could affect the war in some way, if we could stop it, we would, but unfortunately it’s out of our hands.”
Sabalenka progressed to the second round in straight sets. (Credit: Christophe Ena/AP)
Sabalenka added later that she understands why the Ukrainian players don’t shake hands with her and said that Kostyuk did not deserve to be booed by the crowd.
Currently, Russian and Belarusian players continue to compete in major competitions as neutral athletes, without showing their flag or their country.
After winning the ATX Texas Open in March, Kostyuk also refused to shake hands with her defeated Russian rival, Varvara Gracheva.
2023-05-29 10:51:00
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