Former Britain tennis player
Laura Robson believes that
Russia’s
Victoria Azarenka did ‘nothing wrong’ by not shaking hands with Ukraine’s
Elina Svitolina after her
Wimbledon round of 16 clash.
The former world number one Azarenka was booed by the crowd
for not having a handshake with the 28-year-old after suffering a defeat in the
fourth round of the third Grand Slam of the year on Sunday with a score of 2-6,
6-4, 7-6.
After the match, the two-time Australian Open winner, while
talking to the media, made her position clear that it was not her decision to
not have a handshake and that she just respected the wish of her opponent.
In response to that, Svitolina also made it clear that she does
not want to have a handshake with any player from Russia until every Russian
soldier will leave the soil of Ukraine.
Robson, while talking during the
Eurosport’s Wimbledon coverage,
backed the two-time Grand Slam winner Azarenka and stated that she did nothing wrong and also suggested that the crowd misunderstood the whole situation.
"It was totally fair," said Robson. "I don't
think the crowd understood that Svitolina was never going to shake her hand. She
said 'thank you', went to her bag, did everything you thought she was going to
do if you follow tennis week in, week out.
"For the crowd to react like this, I don't think anyone
appreciated it - most of all Svitolina. That was an absolute battle of a
performance that both gave and for the match to be about anything other than
tennis is so disappointing.
"Azarenka did nothing wrong. For her to be talking
about that after the match rather than the tennis is so disappointing."