Belarusian tennis star Aryna Sabalenka distanced herself from ruler Alexander Lukashenko after a temporary media boycott at the French Open.
Aryna Sabalenka has after her semifinals at the French Open Broke its silence towards the press and took a clearer stance than ever against the war in Ukraine. “I don’t support the war. I don’t want my country to be in any conflict at all”said the Belarusian top player after the politically explosive quarter-final game against the Ukrainian Elina Switolina (6: 4, 6: 4).
When asked, the 25-year-old also distanced herself from the Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko. “I don’t support the war, so I don’t support Lukashenko at the moment either”said Sabalenka after a moment’s hesitation. Regarding the photos from the past that show the two and have caused controversy in the past few days, she explained: “We played a lot of Fed Cups in Belarus. He was at our games to take photos afterwards. Nothing bad was happening in Belarus or in Ukraine or Russia at that time.”
First press conference since second round match
Since her second round game in Paris, Sabalenka has had the obligatory press conferences with reference to hers “mental health” denied after being confronted with critical questions. Instead, she spoke to a representative of the women’s tennis organization WTA, and these statements were made available to journalists.
Now Sabalenka spoke again for the first time in the fully occupied press room: “I couldn’t sleep and felt really bad for not coming here”said Sabalenka, but also indicated that she did not regret her decision. “I didn’t feel respected. At one Grand Slam you already have enough pressure to deal with. I was just trying to focus on my game”said Sabalenka.
Switolina refuses to shake hands
It is important to her not to get involved in political discussions. As expected, Switolina, who is working intensively for peace in her Ukrainian homeland, refused to shake hands with Sabalenka on the court after the game. Sabalenka had been waiting for her opponent at the net, which surprised Switolina.
“I honestly don’t know what she was expecting – what she was waiting for because what I said about the handshake was pretty clear.” In her eyes, Sabalenka had aggravated the situation a bit, confirmed Switolina, who was again booed by parts of the Paris audience for her action.
Consider Sabalenka on the court
Sabalenka was clearly the better player in the midday heat in Paris. The Australian OpenThe winner can continue to dream of the second Grand Slam title of her career – for Switolina, meanwhile, the remarkable comeback story ended after the birth of her first daughter in October.
Previously, the Czech Karolina Muchova was the first participant to reach the semi-finals in Roland Garros. The 26-year-old defeated the Russian Anastasiya Pavlyuchenkowa 7: 5, 6: 2 and now meets Sabalenka, who reached the semi-finals in Paris for the first time.