Sabalenka makes brave stand against Belarus president
Belarusian player Aryna Sabalenka made a dramatic return from her six-day press conference blackout, as she told reporters at the French Open that she did not support her president Alexander Lukashenko over the war in Ukraine.
This is a brave stance for any Belarusian athlete to take, as Lukashenko – who has been photographed with Sabalenka in the past – is a hardline dictator who expects loyalty from his subjects.
Sabalenka’s press conference drew the largest audience of the fortnight so far at Roland Garros. She had skipped most of her media duties after her previous two victories, as a direct result of some feisty questioning from a part-time Ukrainian reporter who had themselves become a refugee from occupied Luhansk. In her explanation for that decision – which recalled Naomi Osaka’s own retreat from the interview room two years ago – Sabalenka had said (via tour staff working for the Women’s Tennis Association) that she “did not feel safe in press conference”.
Returning to the usual postmatch routine after her 6-4, 6-4 victory over Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, Sabalenka was asked to expand on her reasoning. “I felt disrespected,” she said. “I felt like journalists try to put the words in my mouth. I didn’t feel comfortable. All those bad feelings was in my head, I couldn’t fall asleep. I felt really bad not coming here.
“I felt like my press conference became a political TV show, and I’m not an expert in politics. I had a few days to switch off from the press conference, few days to bring myself together, few days to realise a couple of things. Yeah, that’s why I feel safer. And nobody’s putting words in my mouth.”
There was no sense that political issues were off the table. Sabalenka faced repeated questioning about her stance on the war, and in the process found herself going further than she had in any previous interview. Asked whether she supported Lukashenko, she said: “It’s a tough question. I mean, I don’t support war, meaning I don’t support Lukashenko right now.”
Political issues have followed Sabalenka throughout her French Open campaign, starting from the moment she faced Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk in her opening match on May 28.
Yesterday, she found herself in a similar situation against Svitolina. The contest ended in unedifying style as the Parisian crowd booed Svitolina for turning down the usual post-match handshake. Afterwards, Svitolina said Sabalenka had inflamed the situation by marching forward and leaning on the net tape, as if unaware that all Ukrainian players are boycotting handshakes with players from the aggressor nations, Russia and Belarus.
“I don’t know what she was waiting [for],” Svitolina said, “because my statements were clear enough about the handshake.”
Asked whether she believed Sabalenka’s actions had exacerbated the situation, Svitolina replied: “Yeah, I think so, unfortunately.”
Asked why she had gone up and hovered around the net, the Belarusian replied: “It just was an instinct like I do after all my matches.”