Wimbledon second seed Arina Sabalenko said on Saturday that she will not answer questions from journalists about politics, the invasion of Ukraine or Belarusian President Oleksandr Lukashenka.

Aryna Sabalenko and the refusal to talk about politics at Wimbledon

At Roland Garros, the Belarusian twice did not appear at the post-match press conference with the consent of the organizers after he was asked several times about these topics.

“I’m here to talk only about tennis,” Sabalenka said at a press conference ahead of the Wimbledon tournament, AFP reported, citing News.ro.

“Please respect this. If you have any political question, you can ask it to the WTA or the organizers of the tournament, they will send you the transcripts of my answers in previous tournaments,” the player from Belarus announced.

Answering the question about what kind of reception she expects from the London public, Sabalenka, one of the favorites along with Iga Svyatek and Olena Rybakina, answered that she “doesn’t expect anything”.

“I just hope they support me like they have in previous years. That’s all. I’m pretty sure if I play my best tennis I can do very well at Wimbledon.”

Aryna Sabalenko (2 WTA) will make her Wimbledon debut on Tuesday against Hungarian Panna Udvardi (82 WTA).