MOSCOW, Sep 2 Ukrainian tennis player Marta Kostyuk said she refused to shake hands Victoria Azarenka after the US Open match, because the Belarusian did not publicly condemn the events in Ukraine. On Thursday, after losing to Azarenka in the second round of the US Open, Kostyuk abandoned the traditional handshake. Tennis players only touched with rackets. According to Kostyuk, before the match, she sent a text message to the Belarusian woman to warn her that she would not shake her hand. «It was my choice, because none of them publicly condemned the events taking place in Ukraine and the actions of their governments. I cannot support this I never had any personal hatred for her, but since she plays such a big role outside of tennis, in Belarus, in the tennis world, being a member of the WTA Players Council, I feel that she could have done more, at least in our personal relationships with the players,» Tennis.com quotes Kostyuk. At the end of August, on the eve of the US Open, Azarenka was expelled from the list of participants in a charity tournament in the United States in support of Ukraine. Ukrainian tennis players, including Kostyuk, opposed her participation.
