UKRAINE STAR ELINA SVITOLINA BOOED OFF COURT AT FRENCH OPEN AFTER LOSS TO BELARUSIAN RIVAL

Elina Svitolina was booed off the court after snubbing the chance to shake hands with world No 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka at the in a tense exchange following their quarter-final clash. Sabalenka emerged victorious with a straight sets victory on Court Philippe Chatrier and opted to walk to the net to embrace Svitolina in the traditional post-match handshake, but the Ukrainian star blanked her opponent before jeers emanated from the crowd.

Sabalenka progressed to the semi-final with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Svitolina on Tuesday afternoon inside a busy arena. But all eyes were on both players as they made their way back to their chairs. As Sabalenka waited at the net, Svitolina continued to walk to her chair and did not make eye contact with her opponent, instead going to shake the hand of the umpire.

Ukraine flags could be seen being waved inside the stadium as Svitolina walked off and, while there were some cheers for the world No 192, a smattering of boos could be audibly heard from the crowd too.

In her on-court interview, Sabalenka was not asked about the snub but the 25-year-old, addressing the fans, said: "The atmsophere was amazing. Thank you so much for being here and supporting us."

Before the match, Svitolina had spoken about fighting for her country and admitted she "felt like crying" in a previous tournament in Mexico, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine on her mind. Salabenka, meanwhile, was prepared for a hostile reaction.

"I have played last two matches against Russian players so it will not change, everything will be same," she said. "So I'm used to it now, it's gonna be the same."

Svitolina, who reached as high as third in the WTA rankings, only returned to action in April after celebrating the birth of her first child in October with tennis player husband Gael Monfils. But her position on refusing to shake hands with Russian or Belarusian players has been clear for some time after declaring she would not entertain the gesture.

"It started, with the Ukrainian government, that went to meetings with the Russian government," she previously said. "They were against shaking hands because they're not sharing the same values, obviously, and what it's doing, what the Russians doing to our country."

Only days ago, Svitolina had praised the French crowd for making her feel like an 'honorary Frenchwoman' after attracting supporters for her matches in Paris.

"I cannot be more thankful for all your support," she told the Court Suzanne Lenglen crowd in an emotional post-match interview on Sunday. "Now I can feel what Gael was experiencing for all these years and I'm really thankful for all the French people to support me so much."

Sabalenka will face Karolina Muchova in the semi-final on Thursday after the Czech defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in straight sets.

2023-06-06T13:13:02Z dg43tfdfdgfd