Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk was booed after refusing Belarusian French Open handshake

A Ukrainian tennis star has been booed at the French Open after a moment of handshake drama against a Belarusian opponent.

Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk shrugged off the deluge of jeers and boos which greeted her refusal to shake hands with Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka at the French Open, insisting she has “no respect” for her rival’s claim that “nobody wants this war”.

In a highly-charged first round clash at Roland Garros, world No.2 Sabalenka won 10 of the last 12 games to sail to a 6-3 6-2 victory.

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However, in a match where the build-up had been overshadowed by the continuing sporting fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Kostyuk followed through on her promise not to shake hands with Sabalenka. Belarus is a key military ally of Moscow.

The 20-year-old Ukrainian was widely jeered as she shook hands with the chair umpire before walking straight past her opponent, packing her bags and leaving Court Philippe Chatrier.

The players also didn’t take part in the traditional pre-match photo on court.

Sabalenka insisted that all Belarusian and Russian players are opposed to the war which has raged on since February 2022.

“Nobody in this world, Russian athletes or Belarusian athletes, supports the war. Nobody,” said the 25-year-old.

“If we could stop it, we would do it.”

However, Kostyuk, one of the most vociferous opponents of the continued presence of Russian and Belarusian players in the sport, hit back.

Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine shakes hands with the umpire before avoiding shaking hands with Aryna Sabalenka at Roland Garros. Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images

Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine walks past Aryna Sabalenka. Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images.

Aryna Sabalenka was left hanging. Photo by Frey/TPN/Getty Images.

“She never says that she personally doesn’t support this war and I feel like journalists should change the questions that you ask these athletes because the war is already there,” she said.

“I feel like you should ask these players who would they want to win the war because if you ask this question, I’m not so sure these people will say that they want Ukraine to win.” Sabalenka can become the new world No.1 after the French Open and Kostyuk believes the Australian Open champion will then have a global platform from which to denounce the war.

“There are so many platforms that millions, billions of people in the world read. And just to reject her responsibility of having an opinion on the most important things in the world, I cannot respect it,” said Kostyuk.

“She said that I hate her. I never said publicly nor privately nor to anyone that I hate Aryna Sabalenka or any of the players. I just don’t respect her because of her position in this situation.”

Sabalenka defeated Kostyuk in the French Open today but she was again denied a handshake by her opponent.

The pair had played previously and the Ukrainian had refused to shake hands with the Belarusian, due to Belarus’ support of Russia's war in Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/ZY8161yrwB

— Eurosport (@eurosport) May 28, 2023

No pre-match photo for Aryna Sabalenka & Marta Kostyuk

Roland Garros really isn't wasting any time.

They really scheduled the most interesting match first up on Philippe-Chatrier 🍿 pic.twitter.com/jVXAUUWv0L

— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) May 28, 2023

She added: “I personally know athletes from tennis who support the war. To say nobody does is a little bit strong.”

Sabalenka said she sympathised with Kostyuk being subjected to jeers from the French crowd.

“I understand why they are not shaking hands with us. I can imagine if they going to shake hands with us and then what’s gonna happen to them from Ukrainian side? So I understand that,” said Sabalenka.

“And I understand that this is not kind of like personally. I think she don’t deserve to leave the court that way.”

Kostyuk questioned the crowd’s motives in booing her stance.

“I want to see people react to it in 10 years when the war is over. I think they will not feel really nice about what they did,” she said.

“I didn’t expect it. People should be honestly embarrassed.”

Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk (right) also refused a pre-match photo with Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka (left). Photo by Thomas SAMSON / AFP

Sabalenka initially thought the boos were targeted at her rather than Kostyuk.

“They saw it as disrespect, so that’s why it was booing to her. But at first I thought they were booing me. I was a little confused, and I was, like, ‘Okay, what should I do?’,” said Sabalenka who had performed an exaggerated and theatrical bow at the end of the match.

Tennis commentators were surprised to see such a harsh reaction from the crowd.

Veteran American tennis journalist Christopher Clarey wrote on Twitter: “To disagree with Kostyuk not shaking hands with Sabalenka - okay. To boo Kostyuk for not shaking hands with Sabalenka - not okay.

Tennis reporter Tumaini Carayol also wrote: “Part of the Philippe Chatrier crowd booed after the handshake as Kostyuk left the court. Yikes”.

Kostyuk was last in her home city of Kyiv in March, where her father and grandfather still live. She is currently based in Monaco, living with her mother and sister.

The war is never far away for Kostyuk. On Saturday night, Kyiv saw the largest drone attack since the beginning of the Russian invasion. The attack killed two people and wounded three others.

Kostyuk famously refused to shake hands with Sabalenka’s Belarusian compatriot and former world No.1 Victoria Azarenka at the US Open last year. She opted instead for a cursory touch of racquets at the net.

Since then, it has become a common sight with Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina refusing to shake hands with Russian Anna Blinkova after winning the Strasbourg final on Saturday.