Wimbledon: Belarus’ Azarenka gets booed by fans after loss to Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina

The women’s singles tie between Victoria Azarenka and Elina Svitolina at Wimbledon 2023, , which the latter won 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (9), witnessed some hostile reactions by fans. Azarenka, who is a Belarusian, gave tough fight to her Ukrainian opponent Svitolina but was not happy with the treatment she received from the crowd assembled at Court 1.

Addressing the media after her match, she called it “unfair” and many on social media also symphatised with Azarenka.

Azarenka was booed heavily by the crowd after she did not shake hands with Svitolina and both the players walked directly to the umpire. As confirmed by commentators Svitolina had made it clear that she won’t be following the post-match rituals of exchanging hand shakes with Russian and Belarusian opponents in protest of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The boos got intense as Azarenka gathered her equipment and started to leave the court, where majority were supporting Svitolina.

“I can’t control the crowd. I’m not sure that a lot of people were understanding what’s happening,” Azarenka said, suggesting the crowd had been drinking. “It wasn’t fair. It is what it is. What can I do?”

The Belarusian shook her head as she left the arena and banged her fists over her head.

The scenes were completely opposite for Ukranian players at the French Open, a point highlighted by Svitolina, when she shared her views on the same.

“For me personally, I think the tennis organizations, they have to come out with a statement that there will be no handshake between Russian, Belarusian, and Ukrainian players,” Svitolina said.

“I don’t know if it’s maybe not clear for people. Some people not really know what is happening. So I think this is the right way to do.”

Azarenka said she’s always had a good relationship with Svitolina.

“But what can I say about the crowd? There is nothing to say,” Azarenka said. “She doesn’t want to shake hands with Russian, Belarusian people. I respected her decision. What should I have done? Stayed and waited? Like, I mean, there’s no thing that I could do that would have been right, so I just did what I thought was respectful towards her decision.”