Marta Kostyuk and Daria Kasatkina took separate photos ahead of their match at the 2023 Japan Open, which is unusual for a tennis match.
It's unusual but not entirely surprising, given how fiercely patriotic Kostyuk has been during the war in Ukraine. She's bashed Russian players left and right, calling for all sorts of punishments towards them, so her firm anti-Russian stance shouldn't surprise anyone.
Even so, it's not something we've seen before as merely standing in the same frame looks rather harmless, but an image is everything nowadays, especially at a time when all sorts of things are used for propaganda purposes.
What is interesting is that Kasatkina has generally seen kinder treatment from Ukrainian players, as we saw in the Svitolina - Kasatkina match at Roland Garros earlier this year. The Russian has been quite outspoken and rather understanding of the whole situation. It's far more than most of her fellow Russians did, though some, like Andrey Rublev, need to be mentioned as well.
It doesn't matter much for Kostyuk as she made up her mind about all of this a long time ago. There wasn't any handshake after the match, nor a photo before it started. Kostyuk was closer to winning for much of the match, but ultimately, Kasatkina won and advanced into the next round of the WTA 500 tournament in Tokyo.
It was a very odd situation, which isn't common on a tennis court. It's a sport that prides itself on being very respectful of the opponent but tennis players are free individuals allowed to make their own choices.
Kostyuk has made her position rather known since the start of this war, so this was hardly a surprise. Even so, it was a bit odd for all those involved. Check out the situation below.
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