Marta Kostyuk said the French Open crowd should be embarrassed for booing her for refusing to shake hands with her Belarusian opponent
The Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk believes thecrowd should be embarrassed after they booed her off court at Roland Garros when she refused to shake hands with Aryna Sabalenka following the Belarusian’s 6-3, 6-2 win in the first round of the French Open.
Sabalenka initially believed the crowd’s ire was directed at her and reacted with a sarcastic bow. But as Kostyuk departed, she was booed until she left the court. A confused Sabalenka was then urged by her team to acknowledge the crowd properly. Sabalenka said she did not have an issue with the absence of a handshake. “I couldn’t understand what’s going on,” the world No 2 said. “Because we all know Ukrainian girls will not shake hands with us, so it’s kind of not a surprise for us, but probably the public today was surprised. They saw it as disrespect to me as a player, so that’s why it was booing her.”
In 2021, Sabalenka also attended Alexander Lukashenko’s new year address after months of mass protests and violent state suppression in Belarus. Her links to the Belarusian dictator came under further scrutiny when he referenced her results during an address to the nation about the war this year.Download the Guardian app from the iOS App Store on iPhone or the Google Play store on Android by searching for 'The Guardian'.
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