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.
What the Belarusian did not expect was to be booed off court after the match.
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.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Svitolina has stuck to her stance of not shaking hands with players from both countries. No matter how harshly she felt done by the crowd, she refused to blame Svitolina for her predicament.
“I’ve always had a good relationship with Elina. She doesn’t want to shake hands with Russian, Belarusian people. I respect her decision. What should I have done? Stayed and waited?”