No. 9 ranked Russian star Daria Kasatkina, who lost in the fourth round on Sunday to Ukraine's Elina Svitolina, is leaving the French Open with a “bitter” feeling after fans at Roland Garros booed her.
Prior to the tournament, Svitolina made it clear she will not shake hands with any Russian or Belarusian players due to the war between Russia and Ukraine, therefore the two players just exchanged thumbs-up gestures at the end of their match.
While it's unknown if the jeers were directed at Kasatkina or Svitolina, the Russian was not pleased. She wrote this on Twitter:
“Leaving Paris with a very bitter feeling,” Kasatkina wrote on Twitter. “All this days, after every match I've played in Paris I always appreciate and thanked crowd for support and being there for the players. But yesterday I was booed for just being respectful on my opponents position not to shake hands.
“Me and Elina showed respect to each other after a tough match but leaving the court like that was the worse part of yesterday. Be better, love each other. Don't spread hate. Try to make this world better. I will love RG no matter what, always and forever. See u next year.”
The French Open fans evidently wanted to see the two shake hands, but Svitolina was strong with her stance. Perhaps the supporters were booing Kasatkina because she is from Russia? It's hard to know.
With the war ongoing, many athletes from both countries are being asked questions about the chaos. Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus even skipped a pair of press conferences to avoid war questions.
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