Watch: Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk booed off court at French Open for refusing to shake Belarus’s Aryna Sabalenka’s hands

After her first round loss to Sabalenka, Kostyuk avoided her opponent and directly went to acknowledge the chair umpire. Sabalenka even walked towards the net for some sort of exchange only to be rebuffed.

As the boos rained from the stands, Sabalenka initially thought that those were meant for her but then understood where they were directed at.

No handshake from Kostyuk, crowd booing her for that, Sabalenka is confused thought this booing is for her but then realised that she was wrong 🙂 Kostyuk leaving the court with “Boo” from the crowd 😌 pic.twitter.com/MzjSo3rnBQ

— 🎾 (@justtennis_) May 28, 2023

This is something Kostyuk has been doing whenever she has faced any opponent from Russia or Belarus since her country was invaded by Russia, with help from Belarus, in February 2022.

In the match, Sabalenka grabbed six games in a row during one stretch and came out on top 6-3, 6-2. “It was a very tough match — I would say tough emotionally,” said the No. 2-seeded Sabalenka.

During an on-court interview in the main stadium, Sabalenka told the spectators she was sure their jeering “was against me, so I was a little surprised, but then I felt your support.”

Before play began on Day 1 of the clay-court tournament, the players did not pose together for the standard photos up at the net after the coin toss to determine who would serve first.

During her pre-tournament news conference on Friday, Sabalenka was asked about the likelihood there would be no handshake on Sunday.

“If she hates me, OK. I can’t do anything about that. There is going to be people who loves me; there is going to be people who hates me,” Sabalenka said then. “If she hates me, I don’t feel anything like that (toward) her.”