The former world number one
Victoria Azarenka has expressed
her frustration after being asked about the handshake incident once again.
The 34-year-old suffered a defeat against Donna Vekic of
Croatia in the round of 32 of the Cincinnati Open (Western and Southern Open)
with a score of 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Wednesday.
After the match, Azarenka was once again asked whether she
is tired of talking about the handshake.
In response to that, the two-time Grand Slam winner admitted
that it is frustrating and stated that she wants to talk about other stuff but
only one thing keeps coming up during her interaction with the media.
“I do want to have interesting discussions because I’m very
professional all the time and I do give insightful answers,” she said. “But
unfortunately, the only that comes up in the media is this one question, and I just
feel like I’m wasting my time.
“I had a transcript from a whole interview in Montréal. That
was nowhere to be found, and the only thing that came out of it was about handshakes.
I want to minimize my media intake because I don’t want to keep repeating the
same questions over and over.”
The famous handshake incident took place in Wimbledon last
month where Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina refused to have a handshake with Azarenka
in protest of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Following that incident, the crowd sitting in the arena
booed at Azarenka who later clarified that she was just respecting the wish of
her opponent.
Svitolina later admitted that it was her decision to not
have a handshake with any Russian or Belarusian player until every Russian soldier
leave Ukrainian soil.
Both European countries are involved in this armed conflict since
February last year which has resulted in the loss of lives on both sides.