Aryna Sabalenka clashed with reporter at the 2023 Roland Garros after her second-round match.
So far, the Belarusian doesn't have a lot of troubles on the court at this year's Roland Garros. In the first round, she comfortably cruised past Marta Kostyuk from Ukraine, and a similar result awaited her in the second round against fellow compatriot Iryna Shymanovich.
However, she is having a lot of problems and problematic questions off the tennis court. Ahead of the tournament, she was asked about her meeting with the Ukrainian. Sabalenka stated that she expects no handshake, but showed that she knows why her opponent has to make that decision.
After the match, she was asked a question by a journalist who demanded to know what's the Belarusian's stance regarding the ongoing war in Ukraine. The journalist accused Sabalenka of twisting words as the Belarusian responded that there are no athletes that support the war, including herself.
After her second-round win, Sabalenka had to face another question from the same journalist, and this time, her response was much different as she refused to answer any question from the given journalist. Their question started:
"I want to ask you two questions. First, it's about Belarus. Then in 2020 you signed a letter to support Lukashenko, in times when he was torturing and beating up protestants in the street. And then eventually you showed up celebrating the new year with him. How is it possible that the potential World No. 1 supports a dictator and --"
The journalist wanted the Belarusian to answer the question about her previous meeting with President Alexander Lukashenko, but even before they finished the question, Sabalenka clearly stated:
"I have no comments to you, so thank you for your question."
World No. 2's statement was quite clear, saying that she doesn't want to answer the questions of the given journalist, but that didn't stop another question.
"The second question is, you keep saying that nobody supports war, nobody, but can you speak for yourself and say: I, Aryna Sabalenka, flatly condemn the fact that Belarus is attacking Ukraine with missiles, and I want it to stop?"
With her second question, the journalist demanded a clear statement from the Belarusian, but also this attempt was met only by the same statement from Sabalenka who refused to comment on questions from this specific journalist.
"I've got no comments to you. You've got enough answers from me, and I've got no comments to you."
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