Victoria Azarenka mentioned it “wasn’t fair” that she was booed at Wimbledon after her loss to Ukrainian rival Elina Svitolina.
Azarenka, who’s from Belarus, had simply misplaced a third-set tiebreaker on Sunday and — figuring out that Svitolina doesn’t shake fingers with Russian and Belarusian gamers after matches in protest of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — walked on to the umpire to shake fingers.
The two-time grand slam champion additionally appeared to offer a slight wave to Svitolina, who gained 2-6 6-4 7-6 (11-9).
But as she gathered her gear and started strolling off No.1 Court — the place the gang had been rooting for Svitolina — boos rained down.
“I can’t control the crowd. I’m not sure that a lot of people were understanding what’s happening,” Azarenka mentioned, suggesting the gang had been ingesting.
“It wasn’t fair. It is what it is. What can I do?”
It wasn’t clear if followers thought Azarenka snubbed Svitolina, however the Belarusian shook her head as she walked off and banged her fingers or fists collectively over her head.
At the French Open, it was the opposite means round for Ukrainian gamers. Marta Kostyuk was booed when she did not shake fingers on the web with Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus. Svitolina mentioned she was additionally booed in Paris.
“For me personally, I think the tennis organisations, they have to come out with a statement that there will be no handshake between Russian, Belarusian, and Ukrainian players,” Svitolina mentioned.
“I don’t know if it’s maybe not clear for people. Some people not really know what is happening. So I think this is the right way to do.”
The 33-year-old Azarenka, who moved from Belarus to the US as a teen, mentioned she’s all the time had a superb relationship with Svitolina.
“But what can I say about the crowd? There is nothing to say,” Azarenka mentioned.
“She doesn’t want to shake hands with Russian, Belarusian people. I respected her decision. What should I have done? Stayed and waited? Like, I mean, there’s no thing that I could do that would have been right, so I just did what I thought was respectful towards her decision.”
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
