Ukraine's Kostyuk booed at French Open after no handshake with Belarus' Sabalenka because of war

Sabalenka extended her hand in good faith and decency and has publicly stated that she wants the war to end.

Nobody should be snubbed a handshake for reasons like ethnicity, the country they're born in or the color of their skin.

This type of behavior is rude and unsportsmanlike. Athletes are not politicians.

The Russians have used Belarus to invade your country and kill your fellow citizens. You go girl!

@ Thuban

Nobody should be snubbed a handshake for reasons like ethnicity, the country they're born in or the color of their skin.

This type of behavior is rude and unsportsmanlike. Athletes are not politicians.

I wonder if you would feel the same way if it were your home being violated by invaders. Walk a mile in her shoes before you criticize her...

Belarus is Russia's dog

It's not personal, it's just politics.

How utterly petty and unsportsmanlike. I wonder if she did the same with the real warmongering country players.

quote: “I don’t know why it’s a difficult situation,” Kostyuk said with a chuckle.

Oh grow up. Russians have been imprisoned for years simply for calling it a war. Russian athletes have families in danger too. Russia is no better than North Korea. Ordinary citizens have no say. They didn't declare war on Ukraine, Putin's regime did.

Stop mixing up governments and citizens. We have very little control over what the idiots that run our countries do, even in the West, and less so in places like Russia.

Would those on this board living in Japan be happy to be held accountable for everything the LDP do, and feel it was fair?

Should Russia or Belarus athletes be excluded, ban for all competitions?

At least until the war in Ukraine is resolved.

I fully sympathize with Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine reaction, her homeland devastated from a illegal invasion/occupation.

Mentally/emotionally staring across the net at Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus must have evoked a whole range of

vehemence, indignation, resentment even.

pathetic.

very pathetic.

Nobody should be snubbed a handshake for reasons like ethnicity, the country they're born in or the color of their skin.

I agree, but then again, nobody should have to shake the hand of somebody they don't want to. I get that it's unsportsmanlike, but she had her reasons.

BTW Are we saying unsportspersonlike these days?

We don't know who was booing. Possibly a group of Belarus supporters started it, and some in the crowd followed? I can see both sides clearly here.

It is clearly a difficult ask for Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine to rise above and separate sport competition from the political consequences of war.

Could you honestly blot out the war in your homeland and shake the hand of Aryna Sabalenka, however perceived petty and pathetic and not feel vexation, so vindicated justified.

These tournament organizers should have seen this coming

Aryna Sabalenka was recently praised by the Belarusian Dictator and she even went to some speech he was giving. Plus, she does her training in Russia. If she was truly against this brutal war and Putin's barbarism and publicly said so, she would not be a free woman as she is now.

As a tennis fan and enthusiast, I could care less where people happened to be born. What counts is their skill, conduct and professionalism on and off the court, especially being great role models.

There's no tennis player that supports war, rather the opposite, all promote peaceful resolution. Like all war, real conflict is between country leadership, not people.

However, for Ukrainians seeing their country destroyed and constant exodus of people abroad, must be terrible indeed. So very understandable this player was overwhelmed with difficult emotions.

“I have to say," Kostyuk said, "I didn’t expect it. ... People should be, honestly, embarrassed.”

No you should be embarrassed. You could have played fair-play and transcend war and politics for the name of sport because this is the beauty of sport to be able to do that. The person in front of you had nothing to do with all the mess in your country. But no you decided to play the little victim witch and you got what you deserved.

I’m surprised they would agree to play each other

I am surprised that the athlete from Russian controlled Belarus was allowed on the court.

The crowd made its response to her childish behaviour. Her comments show her level of understanding. She is obviously not too bright and lacks empathy for others.

I am surprised that the athlete from Russian controlled Belarus was allowed on the court."

Why?

Sports are supposed to be apolitical, a contest between individuals and teams. If you want to compete, you are supposed to leave your politics, religion, and personal beliefs off the court. Everything has been politicized today, from beer to swimsuits, and we have too few places to escape.

Sports and Games - life in full flow. May each and every sports person offer joy and happiness to lovers of sports world wide.

The sad but straightforward truth is Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, an arguably innocents bystander, is a victim of circumstance, a casualty to toxic propaganda that both the Governments of Russia and Belarus won't hesitate to politically leverage.

The organizers of the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros should have anticipated all outcomes and considered whether Russian and Belarus competitors should have been excluded.

Under the circumstance of the horrors and atrocities perpetrated in Ukraine by the Government of Russia aided by Belarus, add in the threat of the use of nuclear weapons.

The organizers of the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros see fit, that it be logical, acceptable to place competitors of Ukraine, Belarus, Russia on the same court and then to endure the French crowd booing he Ukraine competitor off court is shameful.

let me be short and accurate.

people will forget match she have lost tomorrow but manners will be not forgotten all of her life.

dura.

Dreadful behavior. On this basis should I not thank the very nice Russian lady everytime I visit her and her husband's dry cleaning business in my neighborhood.

So she was expecting that people who attend and watch tennis matches should not just be aware of but also take into account the politics involved regarding the players and treat them accordingly

She should have addressed the crowd and made sure they know that she's a Ukrainian and her opponent's a Belarusian.

Anyway it's unthinkable that anyone watching was actually unaware of the nationalities of the two players, given the circumstances.

The article was just trying not very subtly to suggest that the audience must have been unaware of the players' nationalities for them to act like that calling out unsportsmanlike behavior

Ian

Of course they knew the nationalities, they also expect sportsmanship at tennis tournaments

GBR48

They didn't declare war on Ukraine, Putin's regime did.

GBR48, a short question: What nation, ordinary citizens of what country was asked for approval by the ruling regime at the time when US troops entered Iraq?

GBR48, a short question: What nation, ordinary citizens of what country was asked for approval by the ruling regime at the time when US troops entered Iraq?

Short question: how is that relevant to Russia being a lawless state?

@Kuku

Ah sorry, didn't see what you were replying too. For once, you aren't entirely off base but the polls allegedly indicating support for the Putin war would indicate some work needs to be done on the citizenry.

At the beginning of May, big international kyokushin karate competitions were held in Tokyo. A large Russian team also took part in them. One of the conditions was the absence of national flags of the teams. The only flag is Japanese. The competitions were arranged perfectly: everything was comfortable, friendly and no provocations. Russian athletes brought a lot of awards from there. I was surprised that the various inscriptions and signs were in three languages: Japanese, English and Russian. I am very grateful to the people of Japan for their open-mindedness. I would tell even more but... I'm afraid someone here would burst with hatred and anger

Sabalenka doesn't support the war - it's OK to shake her hand

When shaking her hand, thank her for not supporting the war