Victoria Azarenka confronted a refrain of boos as she exited the court docket at Wimbledon on Sunday following her defeat towards Elina Svitolina.
The supply of the boos seemed to be Azarenka’s choice to not shake fingers with Svitolina, who hails from Ukraine, whereas Azarenka herself represents Belarus.
However, what the group appeared to be unaware of was Svitolina’s public announcement that she wouldn’t interact in handshakes with gamers from Russia or Belarus because of the ongoing battle between Russia and Ukraine.
Both gamers, within the aftermath of the match, clarified that the scenario had been misunderstood by the spectators. Svitolina even said that she believed the group’s response would have been the identical if she had been on the shedding facet of the match.
Azarenka addressed the crowd‘s response, stating, “There is nothing to say. 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,” as reported by ESPN.
Azarenka did, nevertheless, acknowledge Svitolina’s gesture and waved towards her opponent after the match, indicating that she was following Svitolina’s lead relating to the handshake.
The tennis participant additionally attributed the adverse reception she acquired on the finish to the affect of alcohol among the many crowd and reiterated that the spectators had been unaware of Svitolina’s stance on the matter. Azarenka expressed her confusion over her personal gesture of clenching her fists and banging them collectively as she exited the court docket, remarking, “I don’t know. I have no idea. I won’t even be able to duplicate what I did.”
Azarenka had beforehand confronted criticism for not shaking fingers throughout the French Open and expressed her hope that tennis organizations would take extra duty in educating followers concerning the causes behind her choice to chorus from handshakes with Russian and Belarusian gamers.
Svitolina supported this notion, stating, “I feel the tennis organizations, they’ve to return out with an announcement that there might be no handshake between Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian gamers.
I do not know if it is possibly not clear for folks. Some folks not likely know what is occurring. So I feel that is the suitable strategy to do [it].”
Svitolina emerged victorious over Azarenka with a rating of 2-6 6-4 7-6 (11-9) within the spherical of 16. She described her win on Sunday as “the second-happiest moment in my life,” in response to Sky News.
The incident highlights the necessity for higher communication and understanding amongst followers relating to delicate geopolitical issues affecting gamers on the tennis court docket.
Source: www.anews.com.tr
