Ukrainian tennis star Marta Kostyuk has declared she will never again shake the hands of players from Russia and Belarus as the war in Ukraine continues.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022, prompting condemnation from western countries and a concerted campaign to supply Kyiv with weapons to fight back.
In 2023, the Australian Open banned Russian and Belarusian flags as a result while Kostyuk and other Ukrainian players have refused to shake hands with athletes from the countries.
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Marta Kostyuk plays a forehand against Nao Hibino in the first round of the Australian Open. Getty
Kostyuk was booed by the French Open crowd in 2023 when she didn’t shake Aryna Sabalenka’s hand. The Ukrainian reacted by saying “people should be embarrassed”.
The 22-year-old has continued to be a strong support of her country as the grinding conflict goes on.
After she won her opening round at the Australian Open against Nao Hibino, Kostyuk was asked if her hand-shaking stance would continue.
“I will definitely say while the war is going on there is no way we’ll be shaking hands with them (Russian and Belarusan players),” she responded.
“I cannot say what is going to be after war, I cannot say. I will personally not shake their hands for the rest of my career. This is my opinion on this.”
While players from Russia and Belarus continue to play on the professional circuit in tennis, in 2023 the International Olympic Committee suspended players with Russian and Belarusian passports.
The IOC declared this was because the Russian Olympic Committee was in breach of the Olympic Charter in relation to its decision to include, as its members, the regional sports organisations that are under the authority of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Ukraine.
Kostyuk doesn’t understand why the same stance from the Olympics can’t be used in tennis.
“For me nothing’s changed really, I look at other sports like athletics for example and these athletes aren’t there,” she said.
“I’m just questioning myself why they’re in tennis? What’s so different about it? Why are they so privileged to be here and compete?
“In my case I definitely didn’t forget about the war. I didn’t forget about it because my whole family is in Ukraine … and they’re in danger every single night and I was in Ukraine myself a couple of months ago, I woke up from explosions in the middle of the night.”
The current situation with Ukraine has reached a critical moment as president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other world leaders try to predict how US president-elect Donald Trump will approach the war.
Kostyuk admitted “nobody knows what’s going on” around what the future may look like for her country.
“I think there’s still a lack of understanding of what these countries are doing, they just don’t fully get it and that’s very unfortunate because it’s very close to Europe,” she continued.
“It’s much closer than everyone thinks so I don’t know how things will turn around right now with a new president and everything, nobody knows what’s going on.
“My position hasn’t changed, thank you for your question, because I think it should be reminded again.”
