MIKE DICKSON: The first day of Roland Garros was a day of SHAME
MIKE DICKSON: The first day of Roland Garros was a day of SHAME for the French Open after Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk was booed by fans… heaven forbid Wimbledon’s Centre Court will react in the same way this summer
- Marta Kostyuk was booed after refusing to shake hands with Aryna Sabalenka
- The Ukrainian refuses to share pleasantries with Russian or Belarusian players
- Kostyuk hit out at the supporters who jeered her following the first round match
Day one of the French Open quickly turned into a day of shame for Roland Garros.
Heaven forbid that Wimbledon’s Centre Court this summer should react in the same way as many spectators did on Court Philippe Chatrier, after second seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus had beaten Marta Kostyuk.
At the end of a 6-3 6-2 loss the Ukrainian, as is now established custom, declined to shake hands with a player from one of the aggressor nations, and found herself booed off court.
Kostyuk had awoken at 5am to learn that her home city, Kyiv – where her father and grandfather still live – had come under unprecedented overnight attack from 54 drones.
In that context it is hardly surprising that the Ukrainian number two would not be inclined to reverse her policy of ignoring post-match pleasantries.
The booing of Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk meant it was a day of shame for the French Open
Kostyuk shook the hand of the umpire but refused to acknowledge her opponent from Belarus Aryna Sabalenka (right) which led to supporters at Roland Garros booing her off court
Sabalenka defeated Kostyuk in two sets on the opening day of the French Open in Paris
Later she could not disguise her disgust at her send-off from one of the sport’s most hallowed arenas: ‘I have to say I didn’t expect it. I did not, but I have no reaction to it. People should be honestly embarrassed.
‘I want to see people react to it in ten years when the war is over. I think they will not feel really nice about what they did.’ When Kostyuk and her compatriots get to England, Wimbledon will finance two complimentary hotel rooms and help lay on practice facilities. It is a response to being forced by the international tours to admit Russians this summer.
From her experiences of last year at SW19, Kostyuk does not anticipate a repeat of yesterday’s scenes from British crowds.
‘I felt a lot of support (in 2022), so I’m pretty sure their reaction would be different.’ she said.
A deep antipathy in the women’s locker room between the Ukrainians and those from Russia and Belarus has taken root since the invasion.
This is largely based on the suspicion that some from the latter two countries are ambivalent, at best, about the war.
‘I feel like you should ask these players who they would 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,’ suggested Kostyuk in a highly charged press conference.
There was a frostiness at the changeovers right through the opening round contest
Kostyuk said she was disgusted by the reaction from the crowd at Roland Garros and questioned whether Sabalenka was really being genuine with her comments on the war
‘She (Sabalenka) 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 all of this situation.
‘I see these players every single week in the locker room, and they don’t have the audacity to come up and talk to me for 15 months already.’ At first Sabalenka believed that she was the one drawing the ire of the crowd, and she gave a sarcastic bow in return. However, it then became clear that displeasure was being expressed at the lack of post-match etiquette.
‘We all know Ukrainian girls will not shake hands with us, so it’s kind of no surprise for us, but probably the public today was surprised. They saw it as disrespect to me as a player, so that’s why it was booing to her,’ said the current Australian Open champion. ‘But at first I thought they were booing me. I was a little confused, and I was, like, Okay, what should I do?’ Sabalenka has been pictured in the past with her dictator President Alexander Lukashenko, and in the last off-season spent some time training in Russia.
Yet she remains adamant that she supports peace, and after the match spoke more strongly about it than ever before.
‘Nobody in this world, Russian athletes or Belarusian athletes, support the war. Nobody. How can we support the war? Normal people will never support it.
‘If it could affect anyhow the war, if it could like stop it, we would do it. But unfortunately, it’s not in our hands.’ She also condemned the booing of her opponent: ‘I think she probably didn’t deserve to leave the court that way.’ Kostyuk simply does not believe that some of her peer group are speaking honestly: ‘I personally know athletes from tennis that support the war,’ she insisted. ‘To say nobody is a little bit strong because I think you can only speak for yourself.’
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