Azarenka forced to remove PSG shirt as Rybakina reaches final

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Victoria Azarenka was forced to remove a Paris Saint-Germain shirt whilst warming up at the Australian Open in Melbourne. Azarenka sported the PSG shirt ahead of her semi-final clash against Elena Rybakina on Thursday.

The chair umpire at the Rod Laver Arena was seemingly less than impressed with her outfit in tribute to the Ligue 1 champions, after asking her to remove the shirt and practice in her playing kit. Azarenka also attended her tournament press conference in the PSG shirt.

The Belarusian’s tournament came to an end at the hands of Rybakina, after falling to a straight sets defeat to her rival. Speaking after the clash, she revealed she was ordered to remove the football jersey due to ‘sponsorship’ reasons.

She said: “They told me to take it off twice because I had a different shirt. I think it’s the issue with the sponsorships. I guess the logos are too big… I know that I’m not allowed to play in that. I knew those type of things.

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“But I can still step on the court in what I want to step on the court. I do it for my own reasons. My son wore the white jersey today to his practice, and I tried to wear a white jersey to my match but couldn’t. So that’s okay.”

Her football shirt drama was not the two-time champion’s biggest disappointment on Thursday though, as she fell to her final four defeat. Speaking post-match, Azarenka admitted she ‘was just not there’ at key moments in the match.

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She commented: “I’m proud of myself how I fought and I tried, but just was not — tennis-wise I felt like I just wasn’t there, especially in the important moments when I kept creating those opportunities. Not a great feeling right now to digest.

“But give me a couple of hours and I can have probably a better outlook on this month in Australia. I look forward to, throughout the year, what I can do.” Rybakina will now take on Aryna Sabalenka for the title in Friday’s final.

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