(Provided by Tennis World USA)
Aryna Sabalenka insisted that she instinctively went for a handshake with Elina Svitolina following the conclusion of their French Open match. After sealing a 6-4 6-4 win over Ukraine’s Svitolina, Sabalenka went to the net for a handshake with Svitolina.
Svitolina and other Ukrainian players haven’t been shaking hands with Russian and Belarusian players for quite some time. With that being said, Svitolina just went straight to her chair and expectedly didn’t shake hands with Sabalenka.
Svitolina was then booed by the French Open crowd but some weren’t happy with Sabalenka, accusing her of inflaming the tensions with her move. “I don’t know. It just was an instinct like I always do after all my matches,” Sabalenka said of the situation, via Sportskeeda.
Svitolina on Sabalenka waiting for a handshake
After the match was over, Svitolina was asked whether Sabalenka’s move was only inflaming the tensions. “Yeah, I think so, unfortunately. I don’t know why she was waiting, because my statements were clear enough about the handshake.
I was expecting that. Whoever in this situation loses, I guess, gets booed, so I was expecting that. It was not a surprise for me,” Svitolina…
