Video: Marta Kostyuk Talks About the Wave of Hate She Faced After the Final Against Sobolenko

Ukrainian tennis player Marta Kostyuk said she faced a wave of negative comments after the final of the tournament in Brisbane, where she lost to Belarusian Arina Sobolenko. After the match, the athlete did not shake her opponent’s hand or mention her in her speech, which sparked a storm of reactions online.

 

As Kostyuk explained in an interview with Marichka Padalko, she was attacked not only by Russian bots but also by real, live fans. And all this happened while her hometown of Kyiv was experiencing blackouts and a lack of heating.

Marta, like other Ukrainian women, does not shake hands with “neutral” athletes because of their stance on the war—or, in some cases, their lack of a stance. Arina Sobolenko, on the other hand, is known precisely for refusing to condemn Russian aggression and for maintaining friendly relations with Alexander Lukashenko’s dictatorial Belarusian regime, which has become an accomplice to crimes against Ukraine.

After the Brisbane final, Kostyuk, quite predictably, did not thank Sobolenko in her on-court speech. This prompted some fans to criticize the Ukrainian player and accuse her of violating established tennis etiquette and showing disrespect toward her opponent and the sport.

“What was most offensive to me was that these weren’t just bots—they were also actual fans, real people. And at that moment, my parents’ home wasn’t heated; we had friends whose apartment was at zero degrees, with no water, nothing. So, from a human perspective, it was completely incomprehensible to me how anyone could hate me for that,” Marta recalled her emotions.

Source: Marichka Padalko

Earlier, Marta Kostyuk shared how her mother fines her children for speaking Russian during training sessions.

Marta Kostyuk has lost her chance to qualify for the WTA Finals.

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