July 9th 2023.
Victoria Azarenka's match against Elina Svitolina on Sunday was an epic tussle that ended with Svitolina coming through 2-6 6-4 7-6. However, the crowd's reaction to Azarenka's departure was not what she was expecting.
The two tennis stars didn't exchange the customary handshake at the net due to the tense dynamic between the players as Svitolina has not shaken hands with any Russian or Belarusian players since the war in Ukraine started. Azarenka respected her opponent's decision and instead gave a cursory gesture with her racket before walking away.
Unfortunately, the crowd was unaware of the situation and wrongly assumed she was a sore loser, booing her as she left the court. Azarenka was understandably stunned and furious with the reaction and made a gesture in which she banged her wrists together in disgust.
At her post-match press conference, Azarenka blamed the 'quite drunk' Wimbledon spectators for the reaction, saying: ‘I'm not sure that a lot of people were understanding what's happening. It’s probably been a lot of Pimm’s throughout the day.'
Svitolina, who was booed for the same reason at the French Open, had no sympathy and suggested that tennis organisations should come out with a statement that there will be no handshakes between the Russian, Belarussian and Ukrainian players.
In the end, Azarenka was disappointed that the conversation about handshakes overshadowed the great match that was played. She said: ‘I thought it was a great tennis match. If people are going to be focusing only on handshakes or crowd, quite drunk crowd, booing in the end, that’s a shame. That’s probably what it is in the end of the day.’
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