Arina SOBOLENKO: “Some Ukrainian women are very aggressive towards us”

second racket in the world Arina Sobolenko He said he faced “hatred” in the locker room, but hoped tensions with the Ukrainian players would ease over time.

It was very, very difficult for me because I’ve never met so much hate in the locker room. Sure, there’s a lot of haters on Instagram when you lose a match, but I’ve never met that in the locker room. It was very hard for me to understand that there are so many people who truly hate me for no reason. So, I didn’t do anything.

I didn’t exactly fight but I had some awkward conversations with members of their team, not girls. It was a difficult time. I felt bad as if I had done something and I was not very good in the locker room with some Ukrainian girls. But then I realized that it wasn’t my fault and I didn’t do anything wrong to them. And I am almost sure that the rest of the Russian and Belarusian athletes did nothing to the Ukrainians.

[Конфликт] actually I still communicate with some Ukrainian women, not with everyone, but there are some girls who are very aggressive towards us. That’s why I stay away from them, ”said Sobolenko.

At Indian Wells, Arina said she had a disagreement with Nikita Vlasov, the coach of Ukrainian Lesya Tsurenko. Tsurenko was supposed to play with Sobolenko but withdrew before the match.