Ukrainian player Marta Kostyuk refused to shake hands with Anastasia Potapova after she was beaten by 6-1, 6-3 by the Russian in their second-round match at the Miami Open
Kostyuk, who had also previously refused to shake hands with Russia’s Varvara Gracheva and Victoria Azarenka, from Russia’s ally Belarus, said “obviously there is tension – we’re not friends. We are at war at the moment.”
The world No 38 told the press there had been no response from the WTA about a request from Ukrainian players to meet. “Yes, we wanted to have the meeting with the board and we didn’t get one. No reply, nothing, just silence,” she said. Asked about Potapova’s warning for sporting the football shirt, Kostyuk said: “There are a lot of things that I don’t agree with that the WTA is doing. This is not going to change anything. I’ll just get more hate online. Whatever I say, I will get a lot of hate. I don’t know. You [can] give her a warning. You can suspend someone, I don’t know. I can’t comment on that really, it’s just funny.”
Potapova, meanwhile, had defended her choice of shirt at Indian Wells earlier this month, saying: “There was not any political intention in this shirt. It’s very sad that people seeing things that isn’t actually the truth. I’m just a super fan of Spartak since I was 10 years old. My dad built part of the stadium for this team, so it’s our family thing.”
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