Aryna Sabalenka apologises after furious outburst during WTA Finals defeat… as Belarusian denies she insulted Ukrainian rival Elina Svitolina
Aryna Sabalenka has apologised for her angry outburst during her WTA Finals defeat by Ukrainian Elina Svitolina but denied that she was insulting her opponent.
The Belarusian tennis player fell to a 6-3 3-6 6-1 defeat by Svitolina on Saturday and a video of her swearing in Russian was posted on social media.
Some commentators interpreted Sabalenka’s comments as an insult towards Svitolina or Ukrainians in general.
Sabalenka posted on social media to refute claims that she had been directing her anger towards Svitolina, although she did not clarify whether she had said something in reference to Ukraine.
The world No2 wrote on Instagram: ‘I want to clarify something from my recent match that has been circulating online. My comment was not directed at Elina.
‘I was frustrated with a small group of spectators who were aggressively cheering my mistakes, and I reacted emotionally in the moment.
Sabalenka has denied claims that she insulted Elina Svitolina during her WTA Finals defeat
The Belarusian tennis player fell to a 6-3 3-6 6-1 defeat by the Ukrainian on Saturday
‘That said, I should have handled my frustration differently, and I apologise to anyone offended.’
Sabalenka said Svitolina had played a great match, adding that she wished her ‘all the best for the rest of the tournament’.
Svitolina maintains a longstanding policy of not shaking hands with or posing for pre-match photographs with Russian and Belarusian players due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
In response to Sabalenka’s statement, Svitolina said after her semi-final victory over Linda Noskova on Saturday: ‘As we see there’s many, many Ukrainians, many, many flags and of course they want me to win this particular match.
‘We’ve played many times with Aryna. She has her fans. I have my fans. I just hope the matches between us (are) respected. Sometimes in some matches that we’ve played also there have been not great comments towards me in regards of the war.
‘It is like this in the social media, sometimes things are turned around a little bit.’
Svitolina, the 2018 WTA Finals champion, faces Mirra Andreeva in Sunday’s final after the Russian teenager beat Jessica Pegula in straight sets.
It was the first time the pair had met since Pegula was left red-faced after a hot mic had picked up on her insulting the 19-year-old Roland Garros champion.
Pegula (left) was caught on a hot mic saying Andreeva is a ‘diva’ who ‘needs to be humbled’
In a livestreamed practice session, the 32-year-old was heard labelling Andreeva a ‘diva’ who ‘needs to be humbled’.
Before the match, Andreeva revealed that Pegula had spoken to her about the incident and the pair were able to see the funny side.
‘Obviously, she apologized, so there’s no drama or anything behind it. Now we’re able to laugh about it so I think that’s the most important,’ she said.
Andreeva had the last word as she eliminated the American from the tournament, winning 6-3 6-4 in 85 minutes.
