"He followed me and shouted that I was throwing the bombs": Sabalenka recalls shocking incident involving Ukrainian coach

Aryna Sabalenka has had a lot of problems this year on the Tour simply by being Belarussian and she recalled a terrifying situation she experienced this year.

Belarus officially is pro-Russia in the War in Ukraine making the country the only county to officially back Russia. As a Belarusian player, it became quite complicated for Sabalenka who became a villain simply due to the passport. She spoke out against the war but not a lot of people care about that. She has been blasted by fans, players, coaches etc.

The Belarusian recalled a rcenet interaction with a Ukranian coach that left her terrified. She said it in an interview with L'Equipe:

“One day a coach of a Ukrainian player told me ‘I'm glad you lost.' I went to the WTA office. I cried like a baby, unable to speak. He followed me and shouted that I was throwing the bombs. We don't support war. So what do you expect from us? That we shout 'no war’?"

It's not the only time something like that happened as the coach of Tsurenko Nikita Vlasov was particularly aggressive with Sabalenka. On that, the Belarussian said:

"I was through so many bad things, and unfortunately, I’m not able to say that because who gonna believe a Belarusian girl. I mean, talking about her coach. I have been through also through hell, and I understand that. I don’t know. The more I’m talking, the better I just stop. Yeah, I mean, I think Tsurenko withdraw, there was more than a panic attack or more than a political situation."

Adding:

"I think there is something more. I had a really tough situation last year with her coach the way he acted toward me. So I think that guy put so much pressure on her, and that’s why that happens. It’s nothing to do with WTA."