Politics and sport mingled again on Sunday with the opening of Roland Garros. A moment that could be called a "cold war" marked the end of the meeting between Ukrainian tennis player Marta Kostyuk and Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka.
The Belarusian won the match, quite easily, 3-6, 2-6 and advanced to the second round. After getting the match point, she approached the net to shake her opponent's hand on the court, but she evaded it.
Kostyuk, who had announced in advance that she would not shake hands with opponents from Russia or Russia due to the war between Ukraine and Russia – Belarus is Russia's ally – rushed to the match referee, shook her hand and passed Sabalenka in demonstrative gymnastics.
The crowd in the stands did not like the Ukrainian's behavior and booed her for her lack of sportsmanship. At first, Sabalenka thought the contempt was directed at her, but eventually realized that she was right.
"It was a very tough game, I mean emotionally tough. I'm sorry guys, I didn't understand it at first, I thought this contempt was against me, so I was a little surprised," Sabalenka said. "But then I felt your support, so thank you so much everyone."
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Sabalenka has previously explained that she has nothing against Ukraine's players and feels very bad that the invasion of their country continues. As already mentioned, this did not help a moment of "peace" with Kostyuk.
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