Aryna Sabalenka refuses to reply Ukrainian reporter in heated change

Aryna Sabalenka clashed with a Ukrainian journalist for the second time on the French Open following her win over fellow Belarusian Iryna Shymanovich. A reporter confronted the world No 2 about her comments on the war in Ukraine after her opening match and returned to quiz Sabalenka once more. But this time she refused to reply because the moderator was compelled to intervene.

Sabalenka has been quizzed over the struggle in Ukraine a number of occasions, confirming that she didn’t assist the battle. The 24-year-old additionally beforehand claimed that some Ukrainian colleagues had been “aggressive” within the locker room due to her Belarusian nationality.

The Australian Open champion needed to discipline extra questions after her first-round win over Marta Kostyuk, because the Ukranian was booed for refusing to shake Sabalenka’s hand. During her post-match press convention, she clashed with a Ukrainian journalist.

The identical reporter returned to the 13-time title winner’s press convention on Wednesday and this time Sabalenka refused to interact. “I’ve not to comments to you, so thank you for your question,” she responded to a query about her earlier assist of President Lukashenko.

When the journalist tried to ask a second query asking her to personally condemn the struggle as a substitute of claiming all Belarusians and athletes had been in opposition to it, she once more replied: “I’ve got no comments to you.” The correspondent continued to probe Sabalenka, saying: “So you basically support everything because you cannot speak up? You’re not a small person, Aryna.”

The moderator was then compelled to intervene as tensions flared as soon as once more, saying: “She’s made it clear that she’s not going to answer,” as Sabalenka added: “First of all, yes.” But the reporter made up their thoughts concerning the second seed, saying: “Now we know everything. It’s all clear.” 

Sabalenka continued to carry her floor, doubling down on her refusal to reply. “You’ve got enough answers from me, and I’ve got no comments to you,” she stated. The journalist tried once more, including: “It’s all clear to us,” however the Belarusian replied: “Next question. Thank you.”

She continued: “No, however pay attention. First of all, once I get the query about Ukrainians, they ask me, like, So you understand that they hate you? Like not personally or politically, they asking the query. So I’m answering the query that in the event that they hate me, like I do not really feel something like that.

“About the struggle state of affairs, I stated it many, many occasions: Nobody on this world, Russian athletes or Belarusian athletes, assist the struggle. Nobody. How can we assist the struggle? Nobody, regular folks won’t ever assist it. Why we’ve to go loud and say these issues – that is like one plus one, it is two. Of course we do not assist struggle.”