After beating Ukrainian
Tennis star distances himself from war and dictator
6/6/2023, 6:38 p.m
Referring to her “mental health”, Aryna Sabalenka stays away from the press conferences at the French Open, after reaching the semifinals the Belarusian speaks again. She is against the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, she says after the victory against the Ukrainian Elina Switolina.
After reaching the semi-finals at the French Open, Aryna Sabalenka broke her silence to 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 find itself 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 dictator Alexander Lukashenko. “I don’t support the war, so I don’t support Lukashenko at the moment either,” Sabalenka said after a moment’s hesitation.
Regarding the photos from the past showing the two, which have caused controversy in recent days, she explained: “We played a lot of Fed Cups in Belarus. He was at our games to take photos afterwards. At that time happened nothing bad in Belarus, or in Ukraine, or in Russia.”
Sabalenka had refused the obligatory press conferences since her second round game in Paris, citing her “mental health” after being confronted with critical questions. Now she spoke again for the first time in the packed press room: “I couldn’t sleep and felt very bad because I didn’t come here,” said Sabalenka, but also stated that she did not regret her decision.
Sabalenka is waiting for a handshake, which doesn’t happen
“I didn’t feel respected. In a Grand Slam you already have enough pressure to deal with. I just tried to concentrate on my game,” said Sabalenka. 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.
Sabalenka was clearly the better player in the midday heat in Paris. The Australian Open 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.