By Erik Gudris | @atntennis | Sunday, July 9, 2023
Elina Svitolina and Victoria Azarenka battled each other in a high quality and thrilling fourth round meeting at this year’s Wimbledon. Yet what happened after the match revealed that many tennis fans are likely still unaware of a standard practice taking place when Russian or Belarusian players face Ukrainian players.
Svitolina, who hails from Ukraine, reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals after a marathon 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(9) victory over the No. 19 seed Azarenka.
Despite the stellar play from both players, Azarenka, a native of Belarus found herself booed by fans on Court No. 1 as she left the court.
That was because of the ongoing practice of Ukrainian players to not shake hands with opponents who represent Russia or Belarus due to the nearly two year Russia/Ukraine conflict.
Both players after the match urged both tennis tours and fans to become more aware of the ongoing conflict and of the reasons why Ukrainian players will not shake the hands of Russian or Belarusian players.
Azarenka did acknowledge Svitolina with a gesture of “well played," once the match ended. When she heard the boos from the crowd, Azarenka banged her fists together in protest at the crowd.
After the match, Azarenka got into a contentious press conference with reporters who repeatedly asked her questions about the atmosphere after the match.
“I know Elina for a very long time, I've always had a good relationship with her," she said. "And the circumstances, it is what it is, and that's it. I don't think that talking about every little gesture makes any difference or is a big story. I'm not saying you particularly, but a lot of people keep talking about it like it's changing somebody's lives, which it's not.
“So the bigger you guys are making it, the longer it's going to be a conversation. So in my opinion it's not a conversation that has any substance, any change, any effect, or really anything.”
Azarenka, who said that she expected Svitolina would not shake hands with her, added that she thought the crowd’s boos to her was largely because they were intoxicated.
“I thought it was a great tennis match. If people are going to be focusing only on handshakes or crowd, quite drunk crowd, booing in the end, that's a shame. That's probably what it is in the end of the day.
“It was a tennis match. We are here, tennis match. Nobody's changing lives here. We are playing tennis. We're doing our jobs. That's it.”
On the other side of the issue, last month French tennis fans booed Svitolina when she lost in the Roland Garros quarterfinals to Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus. After that match, Svitolina thought that Sabalenka encouraged the boos by waiting at the net for a handshake.
“It was quite expected. Whoever in this situation loses, I guess gets booed. It was not a surprise for me,” Svitolina said then after the loss in Paris.
Svitolina: The Tours Should Provide Clarity for Fans
When Svitolina was asked about the issue after her Azarenka match, she suggested that both ATP and WTA tours issue an official statement to make clear why players from her country do not shake hands with players from Russia and Belarus.
“For me personally, I think the tennis organizations, they have to come out with a statement that there will be no handshake between Russian, Belarusian, and Ukrainian players," she said. "I don't know if it's maybe not clear for people. Some people not really know what is happening. So I think this is the right way to do.”
Svitolina will next face top seed Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals.