Aryna Sabalenko, who made it to the 1/8 finals of Roland Garros for the first time after defeating Kamilla Rakhimova, did not participate in the press conference at the end of the debate, explaining that she avoids political questions asked by journalists.

Aryna Sabalenko does not attend press conferences to avoid questions about the war in Ukraine

This year’s Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenko continues her fantastic season at the WTA tournament.

The second favorite at Roland Garros, the Belarusian made it to the 1/8 finals of the Grand Slam tournament in Paris for the first time, easily beating Kamilla Rakhimova (82 WTA).

In the end, the Belarusian did not answer the journalists’ questions and was not present at the press conference.

Although she is one of the strongest players on the circuit, her nationality puts her in a difficult situation in the context of the war started by Russia in Ukraine.

Journalists often avoid discussing her game, as Sabalenko noted in a past interview.

“After my match of the last round, I talked to the press, as usual. I know that I always get questions about politics and not about my tennis, but for many months I have been answering these questions at tournaments, being very clear about my feelings and thoughts.

These questions do not bother me, I know that I have to answer the media about things that do not concern my tennis or my matches, but on Wednesday I felt uncomfortable.

I need to feel safe giving interviews to journalists after my matches, for my mental health and well-being, so I decided to withdraw from this situation and stop answering these questions, and the tournament organizers supported me.” – reports about it, reports puntodebreak.com.

In the 1/8 finals of the Roland Garros tournament, Aryna Sabalenko will meet the 2018 finalist and US Open 2017 champion Sloane Stephens (30 WTA).