The Ukrainian tennis player disgraced herself after a match with a Russian woman. Even the Americans are furious

Matches between Russians and Ukrainians in tennis are a common occurrence. Everyone has long been accustomed to the fact that after such confrontations, Ukrainian representatives refuse to shake hands, but sometimes their behavior still surprises.

This happened after the 1/8 finals meeting at a major tournament in San Diego, where the Ukrainian Yastremska staged an incomprehensible show that caused shock and indignation.

What happened after the match

Before the match against Yastremskaya, Russian Anna Blinkova beat former world number one Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark in three sets. Despite this, she was not a favorite against fifth seed Diana. However, many assessed the chances of both athletes as approximately equal.

The Ukrainian started the game stronger and more confident, making an early break, and then brought the matter to a 5:2 score in her favor in the opening set. However, a moment occurred that changed the course of the meeting. Blinkova managed to return to the game and first equalized the score, and then put the pressure on her opponent in the tiebreaker, although everything there was very ambiguous.

In any case, the psychological head start was clearly on the side of the Russian, who did not leave Yastremskaya a single opportunity in the second set. And this despite the fact that Anna had obvious problems with her serve – zero aces and five double faults. But even with such a set, the Russian looked much better and achieved well-deserved success – 6:2 and 2-0 in sets.

Although the most interesting thing began just after the end of the meeting. Nobody expected a handshake between Blinkova and Yastremskaya, but a banal photo at the net did not seem intimidating. However, the Ukrainian put on a real show when the American tournament organizers tried to persuade her to stand next to Anna. Moreover, this had to be done on opposite sides of the net, so there would be no contact. However, for Dayana it turned out to be impossible even just to be close to the Russian woman.

Anna Blinkova / Photo: © Kelly Defina / Stringer / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

“A disgusting example of a Ukrainian woman”

The American, conducting a dialogue with the athlete, was clearly perplexed, but then she finally gave up and simply asked the girls to take separate photographs. The behavior of the Ukrainian tennis player caused a strong reaction on social networks, and someone even accused Yastremskaya of deliberate defeat.

— Unreasonable Ukrainian tennis players still cannot show respect. This is so stupid. Your whole country is mired in corruption,” wrote Zachary Ashe.

– Yastremska should receive a financial fine from the WTA every time she refuses to shake hands or take a simple photo. A disgusting example of sportsmanship,” said The Gambling Tailor.

– I’m glad you lost, Diana. Grow up and start shaking hands with Russian women. Everyone will forever remember how you and your compatriots showed shameful and childish behavior. Be glad that for some reason your country was given billions of dollars,” ZM noted.

– You’re just a loser. It looks like you lost the match on purpose, it was obvious from the outside. Just an unpleasant person who is a disgrace to world tennis,” wrote Rushabh Patwa.

And there were many such messages, although the excitement around the competition in San Diego is clearly less than around the Grand Slam tournaments. It is also worth remembering that just a little over a month ago, the same Yastremskaya refused to shake the hand of Varvara Gracheva, who changed her citizenship from Russian to French. That is, what irritates a Ukrainian woman is not even the passport itself, but the person’s national identity. And this is already called discrimination.