Ukrainian tennis star Elina Svitolina is set to take on Belarusian rival Victoria Azarenka at Wimbledon today and says she will continue not shaking hands with players from countries backing Russia's invasion of her homeland.
Belarus have supported Russia invasion, with president Alexander Lukashenko one of Vladimir Putin's closest allies and both Russian and Belarusian players were banned from competing at last year's Wimbledon. That ban has since been lifted for the ongoing tournament, meaning players like Azarenka are able to compete.
Svitolina was booed at the French Open for not shaking hands with Belarusian player Aryna Sabalenka after their quarter-final match. "I was expecting that and it was not a surprise for me," she said, before accusing Sabalenka of inflaming the situation by waiting at the net for a handshake.
"My initial reaction, was like, what are you doing? Because, in all my press conferences I made my position clear," Svitolina added. "Maybe she's not on social media during the tournaments, but it is pretty clear.
"I made multiple statements that I'm not shaking hands, and she played obviously Marta [Kostyuk of Ukraine] as well in the first round. So it's quite simple." Svitolina will not shake hands with Azarenka after their match and is expecting a more "understanding" reaction from the Wimbledon crowd.
"Definitely there was a lot of misunderstanding in Paris because in Strasbourg [at a previous tournament] everyone understood my position as well, so hopefully it will be the same understanding in a way from the British crowd," she told BBC Sport.
Svitolina added that her clash with Azarenka will be "even more special" and says she will have extra motivation to win. "I'm playing for my country every single match that I play and this one will be even more special," she continued.
"A lot of Ukrainians will be watching, will be supporting me. I will go out there and put the fighting spirit on and just really fight for every single point. I just try to take it as a big motivation."
Fellow Ukrainian player Marta Kostyuk has adopted the same stance and did not shake hands with Azarenka after their US Open match earlier this year, with the pair tapping rackets instead. "I don't believe that making a big deal out of it is important," Azarenka said at the time.
"I always shake hands with my opponents. I had the same situation with Yastremska in Washington. It is what it is. I just move on. I cannot force anybody to shake my hand. It's their decision. How did it make me feel? It's not the most important thing in the world right now."
