PARIS: Aryna Sabalenka said Friday that “it’s OK if she hates me” as the Belarusian star braced to face Ukraine rival Marta Kostyuk in a highly-charged French Open showdown.
World number two Sabalenka knows that Kostyuk, an outspoken critic of tennis authorities over their handling of players from Russia and their Belarusian allies in the aftermath of the invasion of Ukraine, will refuse to shake hands after their first round match at Roland Garros. “If she hates me, OK.
I can’t do anything about that,” said 25-year-old Sabalenka. “There are going to be people who love me; there are going to be people who hate me.
If she hates me, I don’t feel anything like that to her.” Kostyuk refused to shake hands with Belarus’s two-time Grand Slam title winner and former world number one Victoria Azarenka at last year’s US Open in New York.