Varvara Gracheva experienced a Wimbledon where neither of her two singles opponents wanted to shake her hand at the end of the match. After dominating (6-3, 6-1) Lesia Tsurenko (59th) on Monday in the first round, the world number 70 advanced towards the net but the Ukrainian quickly made it clear to her that she would not salute at the net and the 23-year-old Frenchwoman went to shake the umpire’s hand before putting her racket away and greeting the crowd.
On Wednesday, Gracheva, beaten in the super tie-break (3-6, 6-4, 7-6 [5]) by Dayana Yastremska (27th), reached the net and held out her hand when the 24-year-old Ukrainian stepped forward to indicate that she did not want to shake it, while apologizing with a gesture of her left hand. Then she brandished her racket to Gracheva who put hers forward.
Tsurenko, Yastremska and Ukrainian number 1 Elina Svitolina have made a habit since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, of not greeting Russian and Belarusian players at the end of their match. Gracheva was born on August 2, 2000 in Zhukovski, 35 km southeast of Moscow, Russia. Having arrived in France in 2016 in Cannes to train at Jean-René Lisnard’s Elite Tennis Center, she was naturalized French in June 2023 and has represented France since then in all tournaments, in the Billie Jean King Cup (like last November in Seville) or soon at the Paris Olympic Games (July 27 – August 4) where she is competing in singles and doubles, with Clara Burel.
