Russia’s top men’s tennis has described the booing of Victoria Azarenka following her fourth round match at Wimbledon as ‘brutal’ but he believes it was due to a misunderstanding.
Daniil Medvedev has praised his fellow player for how she handled the situation which unfolded following her three sets loss to Elina Svitolina where she was edged out 11-9 in the final tiebreak. At the end of the match, there was no handshake due to the stance of Ukrainian players who refuse to shake hands with those from Russia or Belarus due to the ongoing war. However, a frustrated Azarenka ended up getting booed off the court.
“I think it was a big misunderstanding,” Medvedev said following his win over Jiri Lehecka who retired from their match with a foot injury. “It’s a pity for Vika because she lost 11-9 in the tiebreaker. It’s brutal for anyone that loses a third-set tiebreaker, deciding a set tiebreaker is brutal.’
“I liked her response at the press conference, she respected the decision of Svitolina about not shaking hands.’
“I think the crowd that comes, they’re not all going to know the story behind this. They just saw Vika not shaking hands. That’s why I think they booed her.”
The Ukrainian Tennis Federation says they expect their players to not shake hands with those from the other two countries but they are under no such obligation to do so. The Federation previously told Ubitennis that the gesture is made as a symbol of respect to those fighting in their country.
Svitolina has called for tennis’ governing bodies to issue a statement outlining the current situation but officials at Wimbledon are refusing to do so. The All England Lawn Tennis Club chief executive, Sally Bolton, says the tournament doesn’t want to start dictating what players should be doing after their matches.
“Historically in tennis, the decision on how a player reacts at the end of a match is entirely a personal decision for them and I think we don’t want to start mandating what happens,” BBC Sport quoted Bolton as saying.
“I think we have an incredibly knowledgeable audience at Wimbledon and I think for the most part they would understand what was going on.
“I wouldn’t want to speculate on what everybody in the crowd was thinking last night.”
After Russia was excluded from Wimbledon 12 months ago, Medvedev is one of three men from his country to reach the quarter-final stage this year. The other two are Andrey Rublev and Roman Safiullin.
Awaiting the former world No.1 in the next round is America’s Chris Eubanks who is experiencing his best-ever run at a Grand Slam event. Eubanks stunned fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas 3-6, 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, to record the biggest win of his career to date. He is currently on a nine-match winning streak after recently winning the Mallorca Open.
“He’s a great player. Miami was his first, let’s call it, a breakthrough in a way,” Medvedev said of his next opponent.
“He played great against me and it was a very tough match. I know I need to be at my 100% and absolute best physically, tennis-wise, and mentally to try to beat him.”
Medvedev will play his quarter-final match on Wednesday.
