LONDON (AP) — A Belarusian tennis star was booed as he walked off the court Sunday night without shaking hands with his Ukrainian opponent.
Victoria Azarenka, ranked 20th in the world and a two-time Grand Slam winner, was beaten at Wimbledon in three sets by Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, who vowed not to shake hands with any Russian or Belarusian players.
After the pair’s fiercely competitive fourth-round match ended on Court No. 1 on Sunday night, the victorious Svitolina waved to the crowd, which then began booing Azarenka.
Looking puzzled, Azarenka shook her head and gestured to the crowd by tapping her wrists as she walked away.
By a long tradition, the players shake hands over the net after each game.
“What should I have done? Stay and wait?” Azarenka said in her post-game press conference.
“She doesn’t want to shake hands with the Russians or the Belarusians. I respected her decision,” he said.
Belarus has been a staunch ally of Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, including participating in joint military exercises. Its dictator of three decades, Alexander Lukashenko, claimed to have helped prevent a recent mutiny by the Wagner mercenary group last month.
Russian and Belarusian players have been allowed to return to Wimbledon this year, as long as they do not express support for Russia’s military action, after the All England Club banned them in 2022.
Svitolina, 28, told reporters after the game that the crowd expected the players to shake hands and suggested that Wimbledon organizers make an announcement saying that there will be no handshakes when Russian or Belarusian players face Ukrainian players.
“Every player who loses and there’s no handshake is being booed, I think,” Svitolina said. “I have already said several times that until the Russian troops are out of Ukraine and we get our territories back, I am not going to shake hands. I don’t know how clear I can be.”
Azarenka, 33, has been one of the biggest stars in women’s tennis for more than 10 years. She has twice won the Australian Open, in 2012 and 2013, and was ranked No. 1 in the world. She has reached the US Open final three times, losing to Serena Williams in 2012 and 2013, and to Naomi Osaka in 2020.
Svitolina, who gave birth in October, qualified via a wild card. Next, she faces tournament favorite Iga Swiatek of Poland in the quarterfinals.
The International Olympic Committee said in March that Russian and Belarusian athletes could start returning to some events under a neutral flag.
FIFA, which organizes the soccer World Cup and acts as the world governing body for the game, banned Russia and Russian clubs from competing in Qatar 2022 days after the invasion of Ukraine began in February of that year.
CORRECTION (July 10, 2023, 1:38 PM ET): An earlier version of this article erroneously stated who Victoria Azarenka lost to in the 2020 US Open final. She was defeated by Naomi Osaka, not Coco Gauff.
