Sabalenka Speaks Out About Facing 'So Much Hate in the Locker Room'

Wednesday, 22 March 2023 at 00:30

Updated at Wednesday, 26 March 2025 at 17:49

byErik Virostko

Aryna Sabalenka opened up about the relationship between Ukrainian players, and Russian and Belarusian players in the locker room amid the War in Ukraine.

Sabalenka is a Belarusian player, and since the War in Ukraine started, her position on the WTA Tour became a bit different than it used to be before. Due to a familiar background and similar language, players from Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine used to get along very well.

But that has changed in recent months. Players from Ukraine stopped shaking hands with their rivals from Belarus and Ukraine, and it seems that the relationships are tense also in the locker room.

Sabalenka will compete at the Miami Open after losing in the final in Indian Wells only a few days ago, and ahead of the WTA 1000 event in Miami, she spoke about the current situation in the locker room.

"It was really, really tough for me because I've never faced that much hate in the locker room. Of course, there are a lot of haters on Instagram when you're losing the matches, but like in the locker room, I've never faced that."

"It was really tough for me to understand that there's so many people who really hate me for no reason, like no reason. I mean, like I did nothing. I had some, not like fights, but I had some weird conversations with, not the girls, but with members of their team. It was really, it was tough. It was tough period. But, now it's getting better."

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The 24-year-old player explained that, initially, she had problems getting used to this "new normal." But after some time, she learned to handle the situation much better.

"I was really struggling with that because I really felt bad, like I did something and it's still not so good in the locker room with some of the Ukrainian girls. But then I realised that it's not my fault and I did nothing bad to them. And I'm pretty sure that the rest of the Russian and Belarusian athletes did nothing to Ukrainians."

"I just realized that this is all emotions, and I just need to like ignore it and focus on myself with understanding that I did nothing bad. And I cannot control the emotions of others. It seems like, everyone's just ignoring each other."