Would you have booed Marta Kostyuk?

[Guest]

Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk booed at French Open after no handshake with Belarus' Arnya Sabalenka | Stuff.co.nz

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Marta Kostyuk vowed she would not exchange postmatch pleasantries with opponents from Russia or Belarus. But she was shocked by the crowd reception.

 

Quite frankly, I would have given a big middle finger to the crowd if I were her. Maybe three times. And an audible fart if possible. 

[samhexum]

I would never boo somebody I never heard of.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, samhexum said:

I would never boo somebody I never heard of.

Maybe those booing in the crowd didn't know where the players were from, and therefore the suffering subjected to Kostyuk. I didn't hear the clip, but maybe the booing was just from a small crowd of Russians/Belarussians/sympathizers. That booing would definitely have pissed me off had I been in her shoes. It just seems quite petty to boo a player whose cities are being bombed. And her opponent has not publicly opposed the war. 

Edited May 30, 2023 by Unicorn

[+ Charlie]

This is a difficult topic. Some Ukrainian players refuse to shake hands with opponents from Russia or Belarus simply because the opponent represents a country with which they are at war. Some may be afraid that a photo of a handshake will be used against them in a propaganda war by one side or the other. There is also the question of which player wins or loses the match. All of the Ukrainian players are outspoken against the war, but most of the Russian/Belarussian players take no public position, probably because of fear of retaliation against them or their families by the Russian government; Daria Kasatkina, one of the top Russian women, has criticized the war, but her opponent still did not shake her hand. Then there is the sticky question of how to treat the Russian players who play for a country that is not included in the war, the most notable being Elena Rybakina, the current Wimbledon champion, who is Russian and lives in Moscow, but officially plays for Kazakhstan. There is also the question of someone like Viktoria Azarenka, a veteran champion who is a citizen of Belarus, but who has lived for years in the US. There is also the personal issue of the Russian and Ukrainian players who have known one another and played amicably for years before the war.

Aryna Sabalenka is #2 in the world, and is generally popular with fans and with her fellow players; she is from Belarus, but many spectators are not aware of exactly where she is from, or of Belarus's connection to the war. Kostyuk is a young player, and many fans probably don't really know where she is from either. Sabalenka beat Kostyuk pretty convincingly, and she seemed to be headed to the net to shake hands, while Kostyuk made it obvious that she was not going to acknowledge her opponent, and looked like she was flouncing off in a huff. To many fans it probably looked simply like she was being a bad sport about losing a tennis match, and that was enough to generate the boos.

 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Charlie said:

...Aryna Sabalenka is #2 in the world, and is generally popular with fans and with her fellow players; she is from Belarus, but many spectators are not aware of exactly where she is from, or of Belarus's connection to the war. Kostyuk is a young player, and many fans probably don't really know where she is from either...

So during matches such as the French Open, they don't announce where the players are from? They do when you watch it on TV, but I've definitely never been in person. According to the story, Sabalenka has not denounced the invasion, which may be the sticking point. So would you have booed her? Do you think Kostyuk behaved inappropriately? For me, booing her seemed quite insensitive to the Ukrainians' plight. Maybe those who booed her should have their houses bombed to see how they like it. 

Edited May 30, 2023 by Unicorn

[+ Charlie]

At matches, they usually do not announce the nationality of the players; on the scoreboard there is usually a picture of the flag of the country which the player represents next to his or her name. Many spectators don't pay attention to that, or don't recognize the flags. The current practice is to not show any flag next to names of players from Russia or Belarus; there are probably many spectators who don't know what that means, or don't know whether it means Russia or Belarus, which many people are not even aware is Russia's ally in the war. The flags are of the country whose tennis association sponsors the player, so in the case of Rybakina, the flag shown next to her name is Kazakhstan, even though she is Russian, and she is not the only Russian player who is supported by the tennis association of another one of the former Soviet republics, who don't have many home-grown players. (Quick! Do you recognize the Kazakh flag, or the flag of Belarus?)

I would not have booed her, but I would not have applauded her either, because I don't think it is appropriate for players in an individual sport to openly disrespect an opponent solely because of the opponent's nationality.

[+ Charlie]

The WTA tournament in Strasbourg last week created an interesting situation, because the final on Saturday was between Elina Svitolina of Ukraine and Anna Blinkova of Russia. Since it was a final, both players had to stay on court afterwards for the interviews and trophy presentation. They did not interact with one another, but were politely distant. As the runner-up, Blinkova was interviewed and gave her trophy speech first; to my surprise, she did it entirely in very fluent French. Then, as the winner, Svitolina spoke. Since she is married to a Frenchman and actually lives in Paris, she surely could have spoken in French, but after her initial "Bon jour," she chose to speak entirely in English. She may have done it just to accentuate the difference between them, but I also wondered whether, knowing how touchy the French are about their language, she was afraid the French audience might compare her competence in the language negatively to Blinkova's.

[BuffaloKyle]

Boo Medvedev if you wanna boo someone! He was the 2 seed and lost in the second round to the 172nd ranked man in the world, yikes!

[+ purplekow]

If the Ukrainian decided not to shake hands against the usual protocol at these matches, she was probably expecting, at best, a mixed reaction.  She took her stand and paid the very small price of being booed.  She did bring much attention to the matter for avid tennis fans and others as well.  Good for her for standing strong.  No boos from me.  

[BSR]

7 hours ago, Charlie said:

The WTA tournament in Strasbourg last week created an interesting situation, because the final on Saturday was between Elina Svitolina of Ukraine and Anna Blinkova of Russia. Since it was a final, both players had to stay on court afterwards for the interviews and trophy presentation. They did not interact with one another, but were politely distant. As the runner-up, Blinkova was interviewed and gave her trophy speech first; to my surprise, she did it entirely in very fluent French. Then, as the winner, Svitolina spoke. Since she is married to a Frenchman and actually lives in Paris, she surely could have spoken in French, but after her initial "Bon jour," she chose to speak entirely in English. She may have done it just to accentuate the difference between them, but I also wondered whether, knowing how touchy the French are about their language, she was afraid the French audience might compare her competence in the language negatively to Blinkova's.

Blinkova did congratulate Svitolina in her runner-up speech, but Svitolina avoided mentioning or acknowledging Blinkova in any way in her winner's speech.

I don't think Elena could have made even an attempt at a speech in French.  I'm pretty sure she & Gael speak only English.  Gael's English, which was just OK before they started dating, is now so fluent that he does whole podcasts in English.

But I get your point.  A speech in bad French from someone who's been in a relationship with a Frenchman for quite some time would have been bombed PR-wise.

[+ Charlie]

Strangely enough, Svitolina and Blinkova ended up playing one another again today in an early round at RG, and Svitolina won again, with much more difficulty than on Saturday. Svitolina again refused to shake Blinkova's hand, and this time there was a smattering of boos for her. Svitolina is a passionate supporter of Ukraine--she announced at the trophy presentation on Saturday that she was donating all her prize money to a Ukrainian relief organization--and she is being consistent in her behavior, but this is a sporting match between individuals, not countries. Since she has said that she doesn't think players from Russia should be allowed to compete, it seems to me that it would be more honorable to refuse to play her matches against Blinkova rather than profit from them.

Edited June 2, 2023 by Charlie

[+ Charlie]

It turns out that Svitolina's next opponent will be Daria Kasatkina, whom she probably knows pretty well--they are about the same age and both have  been around the top of the sport for a few years. Kasatkina is also one of the only Russians who has voiced any sort of criticism of the Putin regime. It will be interesting to see how she handles that interaction.

[+ sync]

I'm a fundamentalist, pick a side, athlete or politician.

Congratulating or accepting congratulations at a sporting event is merely a sports protocol, nothing more.

I perceive the snubbing as bad form.

 

 

 

[BSR]

On 6/3/2023 at 3:32 PM, sync said:

I'm a fundamentalist, pick a side, athlete or politician.

Congratulating or accepting congratulations at a sporting event is merely a sports protocol, nothing more.

I perceive the snubbing as bad form.

 

 

 

On one hand, you have to empathize with the Ukrainian players.  Kostyuk's parents had to flee their town after it was bombed.  Even after they moved in with Kostyuk in Kiev, they still suffered the trauma of hearing bombs dropping uncomfortably close to the house.  Trauma like that sparks a passionate response.

But on the other hand, what do they expect from Russian/Belarusian players?  Even if Aryna Sabalenka and all the other Russian/Belarusian players quit tennis to become a full-time anti-Russian activists, Putin would give exactly zero f*cks.  More vocal opposition & condemnation would make the Ukrainians feel better but won't make a speck of difference in Putin's prosecution of the war.

[+ Charlie]

Kasatkina has always been known as a very fair, friendly, good sport. At the end of the Svitolina/Kasatkina match, which Svitolina won, Kasatkina gave a quiet thumbs up to Svitolina, but Svitolina didn't even look at her.