Daniil Medvedev described the booing of Victoria Azarenka after the fourth round match as brutal, he believes due to a misunderstanding.
Former world number 1 Medvedev praised his fellow players for how Azarenka handled the situation that emerged after she lost in three sets to Ukrainian Elina Svitolina in the fourth round of Wimbledon. At the end of the match, there was no handshake because of the Ukrainian tennis player’s statement refusing to shake hands with Russian and Belarusian tennis players regarding the ongoing conflict. However, the frustrated Belarusian tennis player ended up being booed.
“I think it’s a big misunderstanding,” said Daniil Medvedev. “Really sorry for Vika because she lost 11/9 in the third set tiebreak. Those situations are brutal for whoever loses in the third set tiebreaker, the deciding tiebreak is brutal.”
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“I liked her response at the press conference, she respected Svitolina’s decision not to shake hands. I think the audience that came, they all didn’t know the reason behind it all. They only watched as Vika did not shake hands. That’s why I think they booed him.”
The Ukrainian tennis federation said they hoped their players would not shake hands with players from the two countries, but they were under no obligation to do so. They previously stated that the gesture was made as a tribute to those who fought for their country.
Svitolina has asked tennis’ governing body for a statement on the current situation, but Wimbledon organizers have refused to do so. All England Lawn Tennis Club chief executive Sally Bolton stated that tournament officials did not want to start dictating what players should do after their matches.
“Historically in tennis, the decision about how a player reacts at the end of the game is completely a personal decision for them and I don’t think we want to start mandating what happens,” Bolton told the BBC.
“I think we have a very knowledgeable audience at Wimbledon and I think most of them will understand what’s going on. I don’t want to speculate on what all the crowd thought of the game.”
