Aryna Sabalenka has a rather dysfunctional relationship with Wimbledon. The Belarusian player was the semifinalist at the championships in 2021. However, she was not allowed to compete in 2022 because of her nationality following the invasion of Russia in Ukraine with the help of Belarus.
Talking to The Age, Aryna revealed that she was deeply disappointed with the decision of Wimbledon also because she is not supporting the war.
“I’m just really disappointed sport is somehow in politics. We’re just athletes playing their sport. That’s it.
We’re not about politics. If all of us could do something, we would do it, but we have zero control. They banned us from Wimbledon, and what did it change? Nothing. They’re still doing this [the war], and this is the sad part of this situation.
This is really terrible because no one supports war, no one. The problem is that we have to speak loud about that, but why should we scream about that in every corner? It’s not going to help at all. We have zero control over this situation.”
Aryna Sabalenka in 2023
At the moment ranked no.5, Sabalenka played her last match on the 7th of November 2022 when she lost to world no.4 Caroline Garcia 7-6(4) 6-4 in the final in Fort Worth (draw).
Until now, during this year Aryna has achieved a compiled 33-22 match record.
Sabalenka is scheduled to play next at the Australian Open (Australian Open). She will start the tournament from the main draw that will commence on the 16th of January.