Aryna Sabalenka denies claims she directed Russian insult at Ukrainian opponent Elina Svitolina
Aryna Sabalenka has denied claims that she directed an insult at Ukrainian opponent Elina Svitolina but apologised for her comments after a viral clip showed her swearing during her WTA Finals exit.
The World No 2 was caught on camera angrily cursing in Russian during her 6-3 3-6 6-1 defeat to Svitolina, with some interpreting the Belarusian’s comments as derogatory towards her opponent or Ukrainians in general.
Sabalenka sought to clarify the incident in a statement posted on Instagram on Saturday evening.
“My comment was not directed at Elina,” she said.
"I was frustrated with a small group of spectators who were aggressively cheering my mistakes, and I reacted emotionally in the moment.
"That said, I should have handled my frustration differently, and I apologise to anyone offended.
“Elina played a great match, and I wish her all the best for the rest of the tournament.”
Svitolina’s triumph over Sabalenka at Indian Wells was her first in seven matches against the 28-year-old.
Amid the ongoing war, Ukrainian players do not shake hands with Russian or Belarusian players, nor do they take pre-match photographs with each other.
But Svitolina responded to Sabalenka’s statement by calling for their matches to be “respected”.
She said: "As we see there's many, many Ukrainians, many, many flags and of course they want me to win this particular match.
"We've played many times with Aryna. She has her fans. I have my fans.
"I just hope the matches between us [are] respected. Sometimes in some matches that we've played also there have been not great comments towards me in regards of the war.
"It is like this in the social media, sometimes the things are turned around a little bit."
Svitolina will face Mirra Andreeva in the climax of the WTA Finals after the Russian teenager thrashed Linda Noskova 6-2 6-1 in the semi-finals.
