Tennis fans are irritated with Elina Svitolina for refusing to shake hands with Elina Avanesyan, who was born in Russia, despite her changing her nationality. Due to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the Ukrainian has adopted a no-handshake policy with players who were born in Belarus and Russia. This is something that many of her fellow citizens have also done.
Svitolina is competing in the WTA 500 Abierto GNP Seguros in Monterrey right now. The Ukrainian opened her tournament with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Elina Avanesyan, receiving a bye in the first round.
Many fans were surprised that the 29-year-old did not shake hands with Avanesyan after the game, given that the 21-year-old was now representing Armenia. The Russian-born woman changed her nationality to Armenian in August of this year after obtaining Armenian citizenship.
Fans expressed their dissatisfaction with Svitolina on X. A supporter expressed their opinion that the Ukrainian player shouldn’t have shaken hands with Russian-born athletes Yulia Putintseva and Elena Rybakina, who both represent Kazakhstan. Svitolina did, however, shake hands with Rybakina following their match when she competed as the world No. 4 at the French Open this year.
One fan commented: “In that case, she should be doing the same with Rybakina and Putintseva too.”
Another fan couldn’t understand why Svitolina didn’t shake hands with Avanesyan and wondered what she wanted from the Russian players.
Another fan wrote: “What does she want Russian players to do? It’s even more absurd in this case because Avanesyan did exactly what Ukrainian players wanted since the start.”
A fan replied: “The war in Ukraine is bad. This not shaking a Russian player’s hands is just petty. It has been how long now since the war started. It’s time for the players to start acting like adults not like their opponents called for this war.”
No handshake from Svitolina (who won 6-4, 6-3) to Avanesyan, a Russian now representing Armenia since Cincinnati. pic.twitter.com/ZhqRfnYAnL
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) August 22, 2024
Svitolina in Monterrey, ranking, and results in 2024
LWWLWLWWLW Ranked world no.28, Elina achieved an overall 28-16 match record in 2024. The Ukrainian is now playing in Monterrey where she bested the world no.51 Elina Avanesyan 6-4 6-3.
Elina Svitolina will fight against the world no.35 Linda Noskova in the quarter on Thursday at 7:30 pm on Center Court. Their current head to head is 1-0 for Noskova.
Svitolina got to the final in Auckland (ASB Classic).
The Ukrainian won 17 titles in her career: 9 on hard courts, 6 on clay courts and 2 on indoor courts. (See the list of her titles)
