In public after the match with Aryna Sabalenko, Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk explained at a press conference why she refuses to shake hands with sportswomen from Russia and Belarus.

>> Marta Kostyuk says fans should be “ashamed” for booing her

Daria Kasatkina, a Russian woman respected by Ukrainians on the WTA circuit

The athlete, who is ranked 39th in the WTA rankings, gave the example of Daria Kasatkina, a player from Russia who criticized the war ordered by Vladimir Putin in Ukraine, to show that other athletes from those countries can also take a stand, but not – and they want to do it.

“Kasatkina made it clear that she is against the war, hence the difference between her and everyone else. She can’t even return to Russia now, but she left something important with her attitude and language. He remained on the side of truth, compassion, love.

I don’t know why other players don’t do the same. They don’t know what it’s like to be afraid to return to your country, to know that at any moment you can be killed by drones or missiles.

It is not difficult to understand what is happening, we are 5 Ukrainian players in the top 100 WTA, come and talk to us, even for two minutes. But no, they look down on us. For 15 months, none of the Russians or Belarusians stopped communicating with us. I do not understand.

I don’t hate Aryna Sabalenko like I don’t hate any other player. I just don’t respect her for her stance on this whole situation. Hate is an emotion, people can hate you or love you. She just said she didn’t care. Well, I don’t care about her either. If someone doesn’t respect me, it’s not very good, because respect is not an emotion.

She never says that she does not personally support this war. It seems to me that the focus of the questions should change: there is already a war. It has been 15 months since the beginning. She should be asked who wants to win this war.

If this were done, I am not sure that these people would say that they want Ukraine to win. I know athletes who support this war. To say that no female player supports the war is forced and untrue” – Marta Kostyuk at the press conference.

>> Swan dance, Belarusian-Ukrainian version – Phase without handshakes near the net

Daria Kasatkina defeated Jules Niemeyer (76 WTA) and will play in the second round of Roland Garros against Czech winner Marketa Vondrousova (60 WTA, Paris 2019 finalist) and American Alicia Parks (45 WTA).

The Roland Garros tournament takes place from May 28 to June 11, has a total prize pool of 49.6 million euros, and is the 127th tournament. Iga Sviatek and Rafael Nadal (14-time winner in Paris) became the champions of the title.