Belarusian tennis player Aryna Sabalenka revealed that since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the attitude towards her from her own colleagues has changed sharply in a negative direction. She herself has said that she does not feel hatred towards Ukrainians and sympathizes with them because of what is happening.
However, Belarus was the starting point for the invasion and the country’s athletes suffered the same sanctions as the Russians.
“It’s not easy for me, because I’ve never encountered such hatred in the locker room before. I’ve been showered with negativity on Instagram after a lost match, but I’ve never seen anything like this from my colleagues”, said Aryna Sabalenka before Miami Open.
The Australian Open champion lost the WTA 1000 Indian Wells Open final to Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan) on Sunday. Earlier in the same tournament, Ukrainian tennis player Lesia Tsurenko pulled out of a match against Aryna Sabalenka after suffering a panic attack triggered by a speech by WTA chief Steve Simon about how tennis should deal with the Russian invasion.
Aryna Sabalenka said that recently there have been “strange conversations” with members of the teams of some tennis players.
“At the beginning, it was very difficult, but things are gradually improving”, added the Belarusian tennis player, who will face the winner between Sloane Stephens (USA) and Shelby Rogers (USA) in the second round of the WTA 1000 Miami Open.
The world’s number one Iga Swiatek (Poland) called for more support for the Ukrainians and said that the management of the WTA.
“Every person has different behavior. I personally do not share Iga’s opinion. I will ask her to check the facts before commenting on something publicly. This is the right approach before such conversations”, said Aryna Sabalenka.
