Belarusian tennis player Aryna Sabalenkova said that she does not support Alexander Lukashenko. “I don’t support war, which means I don’t support Lukashenko either,” she said after beating Ukraine’s Svitolina to reach the Roland Garros semifinals.
Aryna Sabalenka was asked if she supports Lukashenko:
“Like it’s a tough question, I don’t support war, meaning I don’t support Lukashenko right now.”
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) June 6, 2023
The 25-year-old tennis player has not yet commented on the war. During Roland Garros, she was under pressure to distance herself from her allegedly close relationship with the president, who is a key military ally of Moscow.
Earlier in the tournament, she canceled two planned press conferences, citing that she did not feel safe as she faced a barrage of questions about her relationship with Lukashenko. Ukrainian rivals also pressured her to condemn the war, Marta Kosťuková after the 1st round match, and even Svitolina didn’t shake her hand on Tuesday.
“I don’t want my country to be involved in any conflict. And I don’t want sport to be involved in politics, because I’m just a tennis player. If I wanted to be political, I wouldn’t be here. I don’t want to get involved in politics,” she said.
Sabalenková met with Lukashenko several times in the past. In 2018, she requested a face-to-face meeting with him. On the last day of 2020, she had a toast in Minsk with Lukashenko, and the president also spoke highly of her in January of this year, when she won the Australian Open.
In the Roland Garros quarterfinals, she defeated Ukrainian Jelina Svitolina, in the semifinals she will play Czech Karolina Muchova. (bbc)
2023-06-06 17:02:21
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