Victoria Azarenka has talked about the ongoing handshake absence when playing Ukrainian players on the WTA Tour.
In 2023, Azarenka has been involved in several no-handshake controversies when facing Ukranian opponents. Recently, two high-profile moments have come when the Belarusian faced Elina Svitolina at Wimbledon, which led to boos from the crowd after there was no handshake and then a pre-match announcement was made about a no-handshake protocol when the two clashed at the Citi Open in August.
After Azarenka defeated Magda Linette in the first round of the Canadian Open, there was a chance the Belarusian could have faced another Ukrainian opponent Anhelina Kalinina in the second round of the competition.
When questioned about the handshake issue and the potential for another pre-match announcement about no handshake, Azarenka expressed annoyance about the topic, as it's something she's been asked about multiple times.
"So tired of talking about this. So I would hope that finally maybe the statement will be stop talking about this. But if I am playing Kalinina, I don't know."
"I have shaked hands with her when we played in Adelaide this year. I don't know. I feel like the very clear message is a personal choice of Ukrainian athletes to do that. That's not the standard practice. That's not something I would be doing, but I'm not in a position to judge."
However, Azarenka reiterated that she is respectful of other players' decisions not to shake hands if they do not want to. Although, she argued that no sports seem to have a uniform approach to the ongoing issue between Ukranian players and opponents from Russia and Belarus.
"I respect somebody's decision, but it is not -- yeah, I don't think it's a standard practice in sports. And as I said I don't know how many times now, I will respect and accept the choice of the other player."
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