Victoria Azarenka faced a chorus of boos as she exited the court at Wimbledon on Sunday following her defeat against Elina Svitolina.
The source of the boos appeared to be Azarenka's decision not to shake hands with Svitolina, who hails from Ukraine, while Azarenka herself represents Belarus.
However, what the crowd seemed to be unaware of was Svitolina's public announcement that she would not engage in handshakes with players from Russia or Belarus due to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Both players, in the aftermath of the match, clarified that the situation had been misunderstood by the spectators. Svitolina even stated that she believed the crowd's reaction would have been the same if she had been on the losing side of the match.
Azarenka addressed the crowd's response, stating, "There is nothing to say. 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," as reported by ESPN.
Azarenka did, however, acknowledge Svitolina's gesture and waved toward her opponent after the match, indicating that she was following Svitolina's lead regarding the handshake.
The tennis player also attributed the negative reception she received at the end to the influence of alcohol among the crowd and reiterated that the spectators were unaware of Svitolina's stance on the matter. Azarenka expressed her confusion over her own gesture of clenching her fists and banging them together as she exited the court, remarking, "I don't know. I have no idea. I won't even be able to duplicate what I did."
Azarenka had previously faced criticism for not shaking hands during the French Open and expressed her hope that tennis organizations would take more responsibility in educating fans about the reasons behind her decision to refrain from handshakes with Russian and Belarusian players.
Svitolina supported this notion, stating, "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.
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 [it]."
Svitolina emerged victorious over Azarenka with a score of 2-6 6-4 7-6 (11-9) in the round of 16. She described her win on Sunday as "the second-happiest moment in my life," according to Sky News.
The incident highlights the need for better communication and understanding among fans regarding sensitive geopolitical matters affecting players on the tennis court.
