Aryna Sabalenka, citing safety, balks at French Open media session
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PARIS — Aryna Sabalenka, the No. 2 player in the world with a chance of reaching No. 1 at this French Open, did not appear for a normal news conference Friday after her third-round win at the French Open, citing “my own mental health and well-being” and saying she had not felt “safe” in her previous meeting with reporters Wednesday, which included an exchange with a reporter about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Sabalenka, a 25-year-old from Belarus, Russia’s ally in the invasion, made the remarks Friday in a handpicked setting with the tournament rather than the customary open session. That arrangement departed from the policy concerning Naomi Osaka in 2021, when Osaka got fined and eventually withdrew after describing anxiety with media sessions.
“Yeah, after my match [Wednesday], I spoke with the media like I normally do,” Sabalenka said. “I know they still expect some questions that are more about the politics and not so much about my tennis. For many months now I have answered these questions at tournaments and have been very clear in my feelings and my thoughts. These questions do not bother me after my matches. I know that I have to provide answers to the media on things not related to my tennis or my matches, but on Wednesday I did not feel safe in news conference.
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“I should be able to feel safe when I do interviews with the journalists after my matches. For my own mental health and well-being, I have decided to take myself out of this situation today, and the tournament has supported me in this decision. It hasn’t been an easy few days, and now my focus is continue to play well here in Paris.”
Sabalenka began the tournament against Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk, who got booed when she upheld the Ukrainian players’ policy of not shaking hands with Russian or Belarusian players. As Elina Svitolina explained after beating Russia’s Anna Blinkova on Friday, “So can you imagine the guy or a girl who is right now in a front line [of war], you know, looking at me and I’m, like, acting like nothing is happening?”
Sabalenka said she did not believe Kostyuk deserved the jeering and said also, “Nobody in this world, Russian athletes or Belarusian athletes, support the war.” She also said in March: “It was really tough for me because I’ve never faced that much hate in the locker room. There are a lot of haters on Instagram when you’re losing matches, but in the locker room I’ve never faced that. It was really tough to understand that there’s so many people who hate me for no reason. I did nothing.”
Ukrainian players have spoken of the horror of having to face Russian and Belarusian players who have not supported them, with some exceptions, including Russia’s ninth-ranked Daria Kasatkina.
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At the news conference Wednesday, the Ukrainian reporter began: “I want to ask you two questions. First, it’s about Belarus. Then in 2020 you signed a letter to support [President Alexander] Lukashenko, in times when he was torturing and beating up protesters in the street. And then eventually you showed up celebrating the new year with him. How is it possible that the potential world No. 1 supports a dictator and —”
Sabalenka: “I have no comments to you, so thank you for your question.”
Reporter: “The second question is, you keep saying that nobody supports war, nobody, but can you speak for yourself and say: ‘I, Aryna Sabalenka, flatly condemn the fact that Belarus is attacking Ukraine with missiles, and I want it to stop?’”
Sabalenka: “I’ve got no comments to you.”
Reporter: “So you basically support everything because you cannot speak up? You’re not a small person, Aryna. You can —”
Moderator: “She’s made it clear that she’s not going to answer.”
Reporter: “Now we know everything. It’s all clear.”
Sabalenka: “You’ve got enough comments from me, and I’ve got no comments to you.”
Reporter: “It’s all clear to us.”
Moderator: “Next question. Thank you.”
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Source: The Washington Post
