WATCH: “Typical Ukronazi!” Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk refuses handshake with Belarusian Victoria Azarenka after crashing out of US Open
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Marta Kostyuk and Victoria Azarenka go for racket tap after the match
Marta Kostyuk was handed a devasting exit in the second-round clash at the 2022 US Open against the Belarus player Victoria Azarenka where she lost the match in straight sets 2-6,3-6. She has failed to be consistent with her performances this season as she was eliminated in the early rounds at most of the WTA events, only managing to reach the third round at the Australian Open but lost to Paula Badosa. She was looking for a great run at Flushing Meadows but once again failed to perform under pressure.
The young Ukrainian who has been very upfront about her support for her country and strongly puts forward her views on social media platforms on various issues. She even refused to play at an exhibition match prior to the start of the US Open due to the presence of Victoria Azarenka and criticized the authorities for the unjust behavior shown towards them. She had even blamed Azarenka who is also a member of the WTA council for being ignorant of her country and not offering the required support to the players after the war.
She had even criticized the authorities for the approach shown towards the flag incident at the Cincinnati Open where one of the spectators was removed from the stands for supporting Ukraine during the match played between two Russians and spoke about the indifferent behavior shown towards Ukrainian players over the Russian players.
Twitter reacts to Marta Kostyuk’s refusal to do the customary handshake
After losing to Azarenka, Marta Kostyuk did the unthinkable when she refused to do the customary post-match handshake but rather resorted to simply touching the racquets near the net after the match ended. Usually, both the players meet at the net and shake hands with each other, irrespective of the result of the tennis match. But this time, Kostyuk refused the customary handshake at US Open led to a lot of buzz around the tennis world where she was criticized for her actions. Some people even blamed her actions for getting the war conditions on to the court as they said politics should be left out of sports.
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Prateek Pradhan
(601 Articles Published)