The audience showed their displeasure when the Russian tennis star did not shake hands with his Ukrainian opponent after the match.
Daria Kasatkina was the ninth ranked player of the tournament. PDO
Russian tennis star Daria Kasatkina said he had to leave the French Open tennis tournament bitter after the audience booed him after the match.
Public dissatisfaction was caused by the fact that Kasatkina and his Ukrainian opponent Elina Svitolina didn’t shake hands with each other after the match.
However, the decision not to shake hands was not Kasatkina’s. Elina Svitolina has publicly said that she does not agree to shake hands with Russian or Belarusian players because of the war of aggression started by Russia.
Instead of shaking hands, the players gave each other a thumbs up after the match.
If the embed doesn’t work on your device, you can watch it from here.
However, the thumbs up did not satisfy the viewers who booed the incident. Kasatkina vented her disappointment at the crowd’s reaction after the match on Twitter.
– Leaving Paris with a bitter feeling. After all these matches, I have thanked the crowd for their support towards the players. However, yesterday I was booed only because I respected my opponent’s decision not to shake hands. Leaving the field like that was the worst thing from yesterday, Kasatkina wrote on Twitter.
If the embed doesn’t work on your device, you can watch it from here.
Kasatkina has been one of the Russian athletes who has publicly opposed the war, calling it a nightmare. Elina Svitolina has publicly commented on Kasatkina’s courage to oppose the war.
Svitolina won the match 6–4, 7–6 and advanced to the fifth round of the tournament.