Aryna Sabalenka has said she does not support the Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko, as she returned to conduct her mandatory press duties following her French Open quarter-final win against Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina.
Sabalenka, the second seed, defeated Svitolina 6-4, 6-4 to reach the French Open semi-finals for the first time. Sabalenka had skipped her previous two press conferences following tense exchanges with a Ukrainian journalist, who aggressively questioned her stance on the war and her links with Lukashenko.