Wimbledon IGNORE Elina Svitolina’s request to tell booing fans there won’t be any handshakes between Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian players – after Victoria Azarenka complained about spectators ‘drunk on Pimm’s’
Wimbledon have no intention of informing crowds that there won’t be an end-of-match handshake between Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian players – ignoring the plea from Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina.
Svitolina has a policy of refusing to shake the hands of any Russian or Belarusian opponent amid the war raging on in her homeland.
Her beaten opponent at Wimbledon on Sunday, Belarus’ Victoria Azarenka, was booed off court by a raucous crowd – and Svitolina called for clarity after the match to help educate fans.
But when the idea of an announcement was put to All England Tennis Club chief Sally Bolton it was dismissed out of hand.
‘We’ve no intention of doing that,’ Bolton said, when asked about the possibility of an announcement.
Victoria Azarenka acknowledged Elina Svitolina following her three set defeat on Sunday evening – but the Ukrainian did not shake hands with her Belarusian rival as war rages on
‘Historically in tennis the decision on how a player reacts at the end of a match is entirely a personal decision for them and I think we don’t really want to start mandating what happens.
‘I think we have an incredibly knowledgeable audience at Wimbledon and I think in the most part they would understand what was going on.
‘I wouldn’t want to speculate on what everybody in the crowd was thinking last night.
‘I would echo what Elina and Vika said. Having witnessed one of the most incredible matches on No 1 court to an absolutely rapt audience, we should be focusing on the tennis and the match we saw, not all of the other stuff that went on.’
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She added: ‘We aren’t in a position where we can control the crowds here at Wimbledon. We traditionally have a hugely respectful crowd here and I expect that we will continue to see that as we head into the rest of the tournament.’
The late night epic had a brilliant crowd behind it but Azarenka was unhappy at the treatment she was subjected to, assessing that spectators heckling her with ‘drunk on Pimm’s’.
‘I feel like it’s been pretty consistent for the last 18, 19 months. I haven’t done anything wrong, but keep getting different treatment sometimes,’ Azarenka, 33, said.
‘This conversation about shaking hands is not a life-changing conversation. So if you guys want to keep talking about it, bring it up, make it a big deal, headlines, whatever it is, keep going.
Azarenka appeared to make a dismissive gesture in reaction towards jeers from the Wimbledon crowd, as she banged her fists together after staring towards the stands
Svitolina made it clear she won’t shake hands of any Russian or Belarusian tennis players
‘I thought it was a great tennis match. If people are going to be focusing only on handshakes or crowd, quite drunk crowd, booing in the end, that’s a shame. That’s probably what it is in the end of the day.’
Svitolina herself was booed at the French Open amid her policy of refusing to shake hands with players from the two nations.
But it is not expected to be an issue for the rest of the tournament with Svitolina the only remaining Ukrainian and, given she is set to take on top seed Iga Swiatek next and with all remaining Russians and Belarusians on the other half of the draw.
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