2023-06-06 17:37:57
The 25-year-old had refused for two games to appear at a press conference after being questioned about her links with Alexander Lukashenko. She finally condemned this Thursday lip service to the action of the Belarusian dictator.
On the courts, Aryna Sabalenka, world number 2, was still there, beating all her opponents with her offensive game and her mule strikes. But behind the scenes at Roland-Garros, the Belarusian had disappeared. Since the press conference which followed her victory in the second round, the 25-year-old player refused to appear in front of the journalists, a passage yet obligatory for all players, to preserve her mental health. The reason ? A heated exchange with a Ukrainian journalist who had asked her about her relationship with the dictator Alexander Lukashenko, president of Belarus since 1994, before asking her to say clearly: “I, Aryna Sabalenka, condemn the fact that Belarus is attacking Ukraine with missiles. And I want it to stop.”
After his third round and then his round of 16, journalists received a turnkey interview, conducted by someone from the WTA. In short, an interview without a journalist and without disturbing questions. This Tuesday, June 6, after her quarter-final victory against the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, no one really expected to see things change. But Sabalenka finally appeared in front of the press after the meeting.
“I’ve said many times that I can’t stand war”
In front of a packed conference room – many journalists were standing or sitting on the floor – Belarus first justified herself: “I felt a lack of respect, that the journalist wanted to put words in my mouth. I always respected the press conferences, I try to be open, I felt bad not to come, but with all these bad feelings that were in my head I couldn’t sleep.
She was then, and unsurprisingly, bombarded with questions about the war in Ukraine, her country’s involvement and her relationship with Alexander Lukashenko, with whom she was photographed several times. “We play a lot in Belarus. (Lukashenko) was taking pictures with us after the meetings. At the time, nothing bad was happening in Belarus, Ukraine or Russia. I’ve said many times that I can’t stand war, I don’t want my country to participate in wars. But I don’t want sport to be linked to politics, I’m only 25, I play tennis, I don’t play politics.”
Before condemning, with lip service, the dictator’s action after a new reminder from a journalist: “I can’t support war, which means I don’t support Lukashenko right now.” Not sure that’s enough to extinguish geopolitical questions after the next game. It will be Thursday, for a semi-final against Karolína Muchová.
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