The Roland Garros taking place in Paris is of the utmost importance for Arina Sabalenka, because after this tournament the Belarusian can overtake the Polish Iga Swiatek in the rating and lead the WTA rating for the first time.

Arina is confidently moving towards the goal, passing the first two laps without any problems. However, Ukrainian journalists obviously do not like Sobolenko’s success on the court, one of which literally attacked the tennis player after defeating compatriot Irina Shimanovich.

There were no reasons for provocations

This is not the first incident at the current Roland Garros, when the Belarusian had to deal with Ukrainian provocations. After the first round game, in which she defeated Marta Kostyuk in straight sets, the Ukrainian refused to shake hands with Sobolenko. The public in Paris booed Kostyuk for this act, which caused a strong reaction in tennis circles. People are just tired of the endless politics in sports.

Arina then at first thought that the audience was whistling at her, and even apologized for it. The Belarusian, of course, is also quite tired of enduring a humiliating and dismissive attitude. Unfortunately, the attacks on Sobolenko did not end there. Although there were no reasons this time.

In the second round, she played with another Belarusian Shimanovich and won with a score of 7:5, 6:2. It would seem, what kind of conflict can be invented here? However, a Ukrainian journalist who came to the post-match press conference began to ask Arina political questions one after another. There was no talk of any delicacy and objectivity here.

Arina Sobolenko / Photo: © Frank Molter / dpa / Global Look Press

Problem for organizers

Sobolenko initially thanked the journalist for the question, but diplomatically noted that she had no comments, and everything she wanted to say on the topic had already been said. The Ukrainian did not let up and probably would not have been silent for a very long time if it were not for the moderator of the Roland Garros press conference, who at some point lost patience and interrupted these provocative questions. The journalist said that “everything is clear to her” with Sobolenko.

There is absolutely nothing to be surprised here, something else is important. The organizers of the French Open have a problem that could lead to daily scandals at the tournament. In the next round of Roland Garros, Sobolenko’s rival will be a young Russian woman, Rakhimova, and here the journalists will have two targets at once. It’s just a grace for provocations – a meeting of representatives of Russia and Belarus.

It remains to believe in the mind and adequacy of the organizers and the International Tennis Federation. In the case of Novak Djokovic, they showed it. Recall that after the match of the first round, the Serb left a message that “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia”, which caused a mixed reaction. He managed to be protected. Now it’s time to protect Russian and Belarusian tennis players from the madness and finally talk about tennis itself, and not about extraneous things. And the reaction of the organizers to the trick of the Ukrainian provocateur in the case of Sobolenko gives reason for optimism.