WTA release statement on Wimbledon booing storm after Azarenka hits out at fans

The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) have released a statement on the Wimbledon booing storm after Belarusian Victoria Azarenka was jeered off the court for not shaking the hand of Ukrainian star Elina Svitolina. Svitolina defeated Azarenka to knock her out of Wimbledon on Sunday and insisted afterwards she did not feel any sympathy for her Belarusian opponent’s reception.

Former world No 1 Azarenka was shocked by the vehemence of the SW19 crowd after she acknowledged Svitolina but did not attempt to shake hands. Svitolina has been refusing to shake hands with Russian or Belarusian opponents since the war in her country began.

Azarenka later claimed that fans jeered because they had been drinking Pimm’s all day. Wimbledon chief Sally Bolton today denied that was the case, saying: “That’s not an issue that we recognise. What I would say is what we all saw in that match was an extremely high-intensity well-matched contest that had the crowd absolutely on the edge of their seats. So the atmosphere in there was incredible. And that was driven by the quality of what they were seeing on the court.”

A number of Russian and Belarusian players have since called on the situation around handshakes to be clarified and the WTA have now released a statement, calling Sunday’s incident ‘unfortunate’ and a ‘misunderstanding’.

The statement read: “Following the unfortunate circumstances and misunderstanding in yesterday’s match at @Wimbledon (along with other matches the past several weeks), the WTA would like to provide clarity around post-match handshakes.

“Due to the ongoing reprehensible war, the WTA respects the position of the Ukrainian athletes in foregoing the tradition of shaking opponents’ hands (from Russia and Belarus) at the end of a match, as this is a personal decision. We have some of the best fans in the world and are grateful for their passion and dedication, and we thank them for their understanding and respect for the athletes.”

Wimbledon chief Bolton admitted on Monday that they would be unable to control fans but the WTA’s statement could help prevent the situation from being repeated. Several Russian or Belarusian players are still in the tournament but Svitolina is the only Ukrainian player left and can only meet Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka if she reaches the final.

Russian Daniil Medvedev, meanwhile, also felt that the booing incident was a ‘misunderstanding’. He said on Monday: “I think big misunderstanding. It’s very pity for Vika because she lost 11-9 on the tiebreaker. It’s brutal for anyone that loses a third-set tiebreaker, deciding set tiebreaker is brutal.

“As she said, I actually liked her response on the press conference, she respected the decision of Svitolina, about not shaking hands. I think the crowd that comes, Court 1 is what, maybe 10,000 people. I actually don’t know. They’re not all going to know the story behind this. They just saw Vika not shaking hands. That’s why I think they booed her. I liked her response where she said it was a great match and let’s talk about tennis. I think it’s a pity for sure for her that she got booed, and probably for no reason. But I think the people didn’t know the story behind it, and that’s why it happened.”

Sabalenka also spoke out about the incident and has since got her wish, having called on authorities to make fans aware of the situations around handshakes. She said: “I mean, that’s really tough situation. As Elina said, I think someone have to come out on social media with the announcement that there is not going to be handshake so players will not leave court with so much hate.

“As I said, it would be good for the crowd to actually know what’s going on. There is a reason behind no handshake.”