Victoria Azarenka slammed the Wimbledon crowd for being “unfair” and “drunk” after being booed off Centre Court following losing to Elina Svitolina in a politically heated match on Sunday.
After two hours and 46 minutes of thrilling shotmaking on Court One, Ukraine’s Svitolina advanced 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (11/9) to face world number one Iga Swiatek in the quarter-finals.
Svitolina did not shake hands with Belarusian Azarenka, as has been normal, in protest of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Belarus is a key military ally of Moscow.
With her hand up in what appeared to be a sign of respect for Svitolina, Azarenka left the court to the sound of boos.
“It wasn’t fair. It is what it is. What can I do?” said Azarenka. She added, “I haven’t done anything wrong, but I can’t control the crowd. I’m not sure that a lot of people were understanding what’s happening. But if people are going to be focusing only on handshakes or a quite drunk crowd, booing in the end, that’s a shame.”
At the most recent French Open, Svitolina and the other Ukrainian players refused to shake hands with their competitors from Russia and Belarus. After losing against Belarusian world number two Aryna Sabalenka, Svitolina and Marta Kostyuk were booed by the Paris crowd for their stance.