At the 2022 US Open, Belarusian Victoria Azarenka and Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk met in a second-round match.
It was not the match but especially what will happen afterwards that many fans anticipated. Previously, the Ukrainian spoke against Victoria Azarenka playing at a charity event that helped Ukraine, when she stated:
“Of course, I received an invitation. I think all our players got them" said the Ukrainian adding: "When Lesia Tsurenko and I found out - I'm only talking about us now, because we didn't ask anyone - so when we found out that there would be representatives of Russia or Belarus at this event, I immediately said that I will not participate in this.”
“So I don't understand why she's called, I can't understand why she's even going to do this. Knowing what kind of relationship she has with all of us. It didn't happen that she met with all of us and said, they say, girls and boys, here's 10 thousand for you, please, you know who needs to be helped. It wasn't close to that. She has no personal good relations with us,” said Kostyuk ahead of the tournament.
After their match, in which the Belarusian dominated her opponent and won 6-2, 6-3 in an hour and 29 minutes, Kostyuk didn't shake her opponent's hand, despite Azarenka clearly stating her opinion on the war many times. After the match, former world number 1 said:
"I wasn’t surprised. I don’t believe that making a big deal out of it is important. I always shake hands with my opponents,” Azarenka said. “I had the same situation with Yastremska in Washington. It is what it is. I just move on. I cannot force anybody to shake my hand. It’s their decision."
“I’ve offered many times through WTA, because I believe that there is a sort of sensitivity. I’ve been told that that’s not a good time. I don’t have, or I never had a close relationship with Marta. I obviously knew who she is, but I’ve never practiced with her. I’ve never really had conversation with her."
“I feel like I’ve had a very clear message from the beginning, is that I’m here to try to help, which I have done a lot. Maybe not something that people see. And that’s not what I do it for. I do it for people who in need, juniors who need clothes, other people who need money or other people who needed transportation or whatever. That’s what is important to me, to help people are in need."
The Belarusian also showed her initiative to help Ukraine and Ukrainian players and once again emphasized how important is the empathy, stating:
“I’m open to any time to listen, to try to understand, to sympathize. I believe that empathy in the moment like this is really important, which has, again, been my clear message in the beginning. I’m going to stand by that, because what’s happening in the world is very difficult right now, but we shouldn’t forget that we are all human and we should treat each other that way."
“To me, I look at her as a tennis player, as a colleague. I know she’s going through a lot of difficult situations. It’s not easy to handle. From, you know, my perspective, I wish she had somebody who guide her a little bit better through this difficult time. So, you know, there is going to be more sympathy from others," said Azarenka.
“I feel like when you’re trying to, I don’t know, react, it’s not always received that well. So I’m always open to listen. I can’t force people to do something they don’t want to do. But any time, she has my number, as you know, she texted me, and all others, as well,” concluded Azarenka.
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