PARIS: Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk shrugged off the deluge of jeers and boos which greeted her refusal to shake hands with Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka at the French Open, insisting she has “no respect” for her rival’s claim that “nobody wants this war”.
In a highly-charged first round clash at Roland Garros, world number two Sabalenka won 10 of the last 12 games to sail to a 6-3, 6-2 victory.
However, in a match where the build-up had been overshadowed by the continuing sporting fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Kostyuk followed through on her promise not to shake hands with Sabalenka. Belarus is a key military ally of Moscow.
The 20-year-old Ukrainian was widely jeered as she packed her bags and left Court Philippe Chatrier.
Sabalenka insisted that all Belarusian and Russian players are opposed to the war which has raged on since February 2022.
“Nobody in this world, Russian athletes or Belarusian athletes, supports the war. Nobody,” said the 25-year-old. “If we could stop it, we would do it.”
However, Kostyuk, one of the most vociferous opponents of the continued presence of Russian and Belarusian players in the sport, hit back.
“She never says that she personally doesn’t support this war, and I feel like journalists should change the questions that you ask these athletes because the war is already there,” she said.
“I feel like you should ask these players who would they want to win the war because if you ask this question, I’m not so sure these people will say that they want Ukraine to win.”
Sabalenka can become the new world number one after the French Open and Kostyuk believes the Australian Open champion will then have a global platform from which to denounce the war.
“There are so many platforms that millions, billions of people in the world read. And just to reject her responsibility of having an opinion on the most important things in the world, I cannot respect it,” said Kostyuk.
“She said that I hate her. I never said publicly nor privately nor to anyone that I hate Aryna Sabalenka or any of the players. I just don’t respect her because of her position in this situation.”
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