WTA set to take motion as Elina Svitolina holds talks over Wimbledon boos
Elina Svitolina has revealed that the WTA will inform the gang earlier than her match towards Victoria Azarenka on Monday that no post-match handshakes will happen in a bid to keep away from a hostile response. Svitolina, who hails from Ukraine, was caught up in controversy at Wimbledon earlier this 12 months when she refused to shake Azarenka’s hand after beating her Belarusian opponent.
Azarenka knew about Svitolina’s stance prematurely and respectfully headed straight to her bag with a purpose to keep away from an ungainly snub on the internet. Her choice to take action was met with fierce boos from the Wimbledon crowd, though the WTA are eager to keep away from a repeat after they face off on the Washington Open on Monday night.
Svitolina has confirmed that, following a dialog with WTA chief Steve Simon, the gang in Washington will likely be informed earlier than the match that no handshakes will happen on the internet.
“After our match at Wimbledon, the WTA, as you know, I said that there will be no handshake between Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian players,” she defined. “Just yesterday I spoke with Steve Simon and he told me that they would announce before our match that there would be no handshake, so I am happy with that.”
It comes after Azarenka was left livid by the gang’s response at Wimbledon, with the 34-year-old hitting out at those that responded with boos in her post-match press convention.
“What can I say about the crowd? There is nothing to say,” stated Azarenka. “She doesn’t want to shake hands with Russian or Belarusian people, I respected her decision. What should I have done, stayed and waited? There’s nothing I could’ve done that would’ve been right so I just did what I thought was respectful towards her.
“This dialog about shaking arms is just not a life-changing dialog so in the event you guys need to preserve speaking about it, carry it out, make it an enormous deal, a headline, no matter it’s, preserve going. I assumed it was an incredible tennis match and if individuals are going to maintain focusing solely on handshakes or crowds, a fairly drunk crowd booing in the long run, then that’s a disgrace.”
Ukrainian players have been drawn against Russians and Belarusians on multiple occasions as of late, with Aryna Sabalenka playing both Marta Kostyuk and Svitolina on her way to the French Open semi-finals earlier this year. It came shortly after Daria Kasatkina was booed off by the Paris crowd following her lack of a handshake with Svitolina, in a similar way to the events that unfolded at Wimbledon a month later.