"Really thankful for her position that she took": Svitolina praises 'brave' Kasatkina amid no handshake after French Open tie

Elina Svitolina beat Daria Kasatkina at Roland Garros (French Open) with the players exchanging a thumbs up without a proper handshake due to the circumstances.

Svitolina and other Ukrainians are not shaking hands with any Russian and Belarusian players but it's not interest with all players. Kasatkina has spoken out against he war publicly in the past denouncing the actions of her country and Svitolina is thankful for that. She called her brave for speaking out before the match and she did that after the match again:

"Yeah, definitely I acknowledged the match today. Really thankful for her position that she took. Yeah, she's really brave person to say it publicly, that not so many players did. She's a brave one."

Read also

2023 French Open Roland Garros ATP and WTA Prize Money and Points Breakdown with €49.6m on offer

Even so, there wasn't a handshake as Svitolina explained why the practice is in place a few days ago. She doesn't really expect things to change in the future so the no handshake practice is here to stay:

"Well, I have played last two matches against Russian players so it will not change, everything will be same. So I'm used to it now, it's gonna be the same."

Read also

"It’s really brave from her": Svitolina thankful to Kasatkina for speaking out against her home country as Roland Garros tie approaches