Belarusian tennis player Sabalenka on her guilt

WImbledon winner Jelena Rybakina (Kazakhstan) and Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus) will contest the final at the WTA tournament in Indian Wells. Rybakina won in the semifinals against world number one Iga Swiatek (Poland), who was handicapped by a bruised rib, 6-2, 6-2. Sabalenka prevailed against the Greek Maria Sakkari 6:2, 6:3.

Sabalenka then spoke about the situation on the tour since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. “It’s not just the Ukrainian players who feel this tension between us,” said the 24-year-old, whose home country Belarus stands on the side of the Russians.

But she herself is still convinced “that neither I nor the Russian players have done anything bad to Ukraine.” However, at the beginning of the war on February 24, 2022, she “carried a lot of guilt in me. At some point I realized that this war was not my fault.”

The Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko had renounced the third round match against Sabalenka in Indian Wells after a discussion with WTA boss Steve Simon. Simon told her succinctly that she shouldn’t be bothered by the fact that players from Russia and Belarus support their countries because that’s her opinion. As a result, according to Tsurenko, she no longer felt able to compete against Sabalenka.

A few days ago, Tsurenko’s coach Nikita Vladow accused Sabalenka of supporting the regime in Belarus and therefore of complicity in the current situation in the country Ukraine to wear: “It’s your fault too, Aryna, you support your dictator’s bloody regime, you vote for him, you stand by his side. And you also support his behavior towards Ukraine.”

Sabalenka pointed out that she herself had often experienced difficult times: “But unfortunately I’m not allowed to talk about my problems, because who would believe a Belarusian girl?”

Iga Swiatek demonstratively sided with the Ukrainian players after their defeat by Rybakina. “I respect them very much,” said the Polish woman: “And seriously, if a bomb landed in my homeland and destroyed my home, I don’t know how I would deal with it and if I would even be able to play on the tour .”