At the last Wimbledon tournament, after the Belarusian Aryna Savalanka beat the Ukrainian Alina Svitolina in the quarterfinals, the latter refused to shake her hand at the end of the match, as a protest of her country's support for Russia in the war between the two countries.
Although the audience booed the Ukrainian, Savalanka admitted that politics hurts her.
Today (Saturday), about six months later, Savalanka closed an account with all her detractors because of her origin, when she defended her title and won the Australian Open for the second time in a row, after easily beating the Chinese Qinwen Zheng 3:6, 2:6 on the main court in Melbourne. in 76 minutes.
The blessing also came very quickly from the vilified leader of Belarus, President Alexander Lukashenko, who is defined as a "dictator", because he lost the presidential elections several years ago, but remained in power and even expelled from Belarus the competitor who won the most votes.
"Victory and pride to Belarus," Lukashenko wrote, "the motherland thanks you for the great achievement, which will forever be etched in the sports history of Belarus."
By the way, the Belarusian feared, even in the semi-finals, that the Svitolina case would repeat itself and embarrass her in the final, because Zheng, who has no experience in these positions, met the Ukrainian Diana Yastremska in the top four.
Fortunately, the Chinese won and the unpleasant incident was avoided.
Savalanka, it seems, was embarrassed by Lukashenko's blessing, but tried to concentrate on the sporting achievement.
She is the second from her country to win the same Grand Slam title twice in a row, after Victoria Azarenka did it in the previous decade (2012, 2013).
This is not the only record that Sabalanka has equaled.
Savalanka and Zheng at the end of the match.
One-sided meeting, photo: Getty Images
The 25-year-old Belarusian became the fifth tennis player overall to win the Australian Open without losing a single set.
She joins a distinguished list that includes Lindsey Danneport (2000), Maria Sharapova (200), Serena Williams (2017) and Ashley Barty (2022).
After the win Sablanka said: "There was a lot of pressure on me leading up to the final and I did the job properly. I want to thank my family."
Immediately after that she released pressure and said: "I hope it's okay that I speak in English, because I don't think you understand what I'm saying."
At the end, she also broke into a victory dance.
watch
Aryna Sabalenka doing her Champion's Dance after winning the Australian Open 😂
Iconic.
💃🏻
pic.twitter.com/UoZR62qQ75
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) January 27, 2024
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