The organizers of the Wimbledon tournament said on Monday that a player’s decision whether or not to shake hands with his opponent was “personal”, the day after criticism from Belarusian Victoria Azarenka, booed by the public after her defeat against the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina.
“Historically in tennis, the decision on how a player reacts at the end of a match is a personal decision and we don’t want to start setting an obligation,” London Grand Slam tournament director Sally explained. Bolton.
As has become common, Svitolina did not shake hands with Azarenka after their 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (11/9) round of 16 victory, in protest against the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022.
The Belarusian responded by raising her hand in the direction of her opponent, in what looked like a gesture of respect, but however left the court under the boos of part of the public.
The two-time Australian Open champion said after the match that treatment “wasn’t fair”, believing that the public may have drunk a little too much Pimm’s, the tournament’s traditional alcoholic drink, during the match. of the day.
“I didn’t do anything wrong, but I can’t control the crowd. I’m not sure a lot of people understood what was going on,” she added.
“If people just focus on the handshakes or the boos of a pretty drunk audience at the end, that’s too bad,” she said.
Svitolina and her fellow Ukrainians had previously refused to shake hands with their Russian and Belarusian rivals at Roland Garros, which had sometimes earned them boos as well.
She said on Sunday that the boos could stop if the tennis authorities released a statement explaining the position of the Ukrainian players.
“I don’t know if it’s clear to people, if some don’t really know what’s going on,” she said.
Five players representing Russia or Belarus, a close ally of Moscow, could participate in the quarter-finals of a London tournament from which its nationals had been banned in 2022.