Announcement to be made to crowd before Svitolina Azarenka clash at DC Open to explain no handshake after Wimbledon incident

WTA
Monday, 31 July 2023 at 21:25
vikaeli
After an utter epic at Wimbledon, it was marred by Victoria Azarenka being booed for no handshake with Elina Svitolina despite the latter making her stance clear.
It stirred up huge debate surrounding what should be done to educate crowds with the stance of Ukrainian players not changing.
It seems the DC Open have employed a tactic which was asked for ahead of their match on Monday evening.
Elina Svitolina confirmed in her pre tournament press conference ahead of their tie tomorrow night that she spoke to WTA CEO, Steve Simon.
He told her that they will announce to the crowd before her match that there will be no handshake.
"I'm happy with that," said Svitolina. But some took a different view to this.
In the replies to Ben Rothenberg's tweet, one fan said that they are less likely to be like Paris or London, but they are unlikely to be paying attention either.
"Skeptical this is going to work. Fans are either not settled in or not paying attention before the first ball is struck. The good thing is that DC fans aren’t as eager to boo as some others."
Another took a cynical view: "Who cares, we only want to watch a great tennis game!!"

At her press conference at ATP/WTA 500 Washington, Elina Svitolina said that she talked yesterday with WTA CEO Steve Simon, who told her that they will announce to the crowd before her match tomorrow night vs Azarenka that there will be no handshake. "I'm happy with that."

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