Aryna Sabalenka has defended her opponent Marta Kostyuk after the Ukrainian was booed for refusing to shake her hand following a first-round match at the French Open.
Sabalenka eased to a 6-3, 6-2 victory in just 71 minutes in the first match of the tournament on the main court at Roland Garros on Sunday. But the world No2’s win was overshadowed by what happened afterwards, with Kostyuk ignoring the Belarussian, rather than taking part in the etiquette of shaking hands post-match.
Kostyuk has refused to shake hands with any Russian and Belarusian players since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. After the winning point for Sabalenka, Kostyuk shook hands with the chair umpire before heading straight to her chair without engaging with her opponent.
The 20-year-old’s political stance did not go down well with the French crowd in Paris, who reacted by booing. Sabalenka was confused and asked her entourage if they were booing her, before returning to the court to accept the applause.
“I couldn't understand what's going on,” the Australian Open champion explained in her post-match press conference. “Because, I mean, we all know Ukrainian girls will not shake hands with us, so it's kind of not a surprise for us, but probably for the public today was surprised. They saw it as disrespect [to] me as a player, so that's why they were booing to her.
“But at first I thought they were booing me. I was a little confused, and I was, like, ‘Okay, what should I do?’ I spoke to my team [to] make sure that I understand it right. Then I kind of understood what's going on, and then I was saying thank you to the public, kind of like I felt sorry for what I did at the first (smiling).”
Asked if she thought it was disrespectful to not shake hands and if Kostyuk deserved to be booed, Sabalenka replied: “I don't think so. I understand why they are not shaking hands with us. I can imagine if they are going to shake hands with us, and then what's gonna happen to them from the Ukrainian side. So I understand that. And I understand that this is not kind of like personally, you know. That's it. I think she don't deserve to be, yeah, to leave the court that way.”
Sabalenka then clashed with a Ukrainian journalist, who accused her of avoiding questions about condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. She added: “About the war situation, I said it many, many times: Nobody in this world, Russian athletes or Belarusian athletes, support the war. Nobody. How can we support the war? Nobody, normal people will never support it.
“Why we have to go loud and say those things – this is like one plus one, it's two. Of course we don't support war. If it could affect anyhow the war, if it could like stop it, we would do it. But unfortunately, it's not in our hands. That's the part about Ukrainians.”
