Azarenka booed off court for failing to offer Svitolina obligatory handshake

LONDON : Win or lose, Victoria Azarenka knew there would be no handshake offered by Ukrainian rival Elina Svitolina at the end of Sunday's Wimbledon contest that had been billed as the 'battle of the mums'.

What the Belarusian did not expect was to be booed off court after she had played her part in entertaining the Court One crowd for close to three hours in an exhilarating contest that needed a third-set match tiebreak to decide the winner.

A puzzled Azarenka was left bemused and shaking her head as she struggled to understand why the crowd had suddenly turned hostile on her.

After stopping in her tracks to face the jeering fans, she banged both fists together above her head and departed the arena with the boos still ringing around her ears.

Calling the reaction "unfair", Azarenka did not want to make a big deal of it, realising that perhaps the crowd were not aware as to why she did not offer to shake hands with Svitolina at the end of the fourth round match.

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with Moscow using Belarus as a staging ground for what it calls a "special military operation", Svitolina has stuck to her stance of not shaking hands with players from both countries.

Asked in a press conference if she felt that she was being victimised by the crowd, Azarenka snapped: "Victim? Victim that somebody didn't shake my hand? Please. I think we've got bigger...

"I can't control the crowd. I'm not sure that a lot of people were understanding what's happening, so... It's probably been a lot of Pimm's throughout the day."

No matter how harshly she felt done by the crowd, she refused to blame Svitolina for her predicament.

"I know Elina for a very long time. I've always had a good relationship with her. And the circumstances, it