French Open: Kostyuk calls out crowd who booed her for snubbing Sabalenka

Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk believes the French Open crowd should be embarrassed after they booed her off court at Roland Garros when she refused to shake hands with Aryna Sabalenka following the Belarusian’s 6-3, 6-2 win.

Since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine last year, which has been supported by Belarus, Ukrainian players have opted not to shake hands with Russian and Belarusian opponents after their various meetings. As Kostyuk walked directly to shake the umpire’s hand, however, a significant portion of the crowd on Court Philippe Chatrier immediately booed.

“What happened today, I have to say I didn’t expect it,” Kostyuk said. “I did not, but I have no reaction to it. People should be honestly embarrassed, but this is not my call. I don’t know. I feel fine.”

Sabalenka initially believed that the crowd’s ire was directed at her and she reacted with a sarcastic bow. But as Kostyuk departed, the crowd booed her until she left the court. A confused Sabalenka was then urged by her team to properly acknowledge the crowd.

“I want to see people react to it in ten years when the war is over,” Kostyuk said. “I think they will not feel really nice about what they did.”

Afterwards, Sabalenka said she did not have an issue with the absence of a handshake: “I couldn’t understand what’s going on. Because we all know Ukrainian girls will not shake hands with us, so it’s kind of not a surprise for us, but probably the public today was surprised. They saw it as disrespect to me as a player, so that’s why it was booing her.”

Sabalenka’s post-match press conference included a tense exchange with a Ukrainian journalist, who implored her to be more specific with her opinions on the war. Sabalenka has received criticism for consistently