Aryna Svelanka apologized for swearing during her match with Ukrainian Alina Svitolina.
The Belarusian tennis player apologized for using obscene language in the final tournament of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). The athlete, who appeared in a neutral status, published her statement on Instagram. Earlier, a video of her statements during a meeting held a day earlier at American Indian Wells was widely circulated on social media. Sabalenka claims that her harsh comment was not directed against her opponent, but was caused by the behavior of some spectators in the stands.
"I was angry at a small group of fans who were loudly and aggressively cheering my mistakes, and at that moment I reacted emotionally," the athlete wrote. "However, I should have handled my anger differently and I apologize to anyone I may have offended. Alina played an excellent game, and I wish her the best of luck in the rest of the tournament."
After Sabalenka's defeat to Svitolina with a score of 3:6, 6:3, 1:6, claims appeared online that the Belarusian insulted her opponent on ethnic grounds. Users commented on the lip reading from the video. Svitolina responded to the video: "I just hope that our games will take place in a respectable atmosphere." The athlete stated that she did not want to attribute intentions to her opponent without sufficient reasons.
Meanwhile, on November 14, Aryna Sablenko's name was included in the database of the Ukrainian project "Osha Shalom" for "inciting ethnic and religious hatred, participation in acts of humanitarian aggression against Ukraine and public support for Russian aggression."