Ukrainian tennis player apologises after controversially shaking hands with Russian opponent at Australian Open

A Ukrainian tennis player who came under fire for shaking hands with her Russian opponent at the Australian Open has been forced to apologise with a statement being released by her father through the Ukrainian Tennis Federation.

Yelyzaveta Kotliar took part in the gesture of shaking hands with Vlada Mincheva after the first round of the junior singles earlier this week despite the common place being for Ukrainians to snub handshakes with Russians and Belarusians due to the ongoing war. The countries federation were supposedly set to investigate and didn't believe that Kotliar made a mistake, but they have since done a U-turn on that and shared an explanation from the father of the accused party, Kostiantyn Kotliar after the incident.

"Liza is only 16-years-old, she has no real experience of playing in such significant competitions as the grand slam tournaments, the very top of both professional and junior tennis," he said.
"The atmosphere here is extraordinary, which in itself puts a lot of pressure on the athletes. At the beginning of your career, it's hard to cope with this and not be nervous.
"Unfortunately, my daughter didn't feel calm, her emotions were running high, so she didn't fully control her behavior. She performed the post-match ritual on automatic, shaking hands with her opponent, not realising that behind the net there was a representative of the country that had attacked our homeland.
"It was definitely a mistake that Liza regrets and assures that she will never allow anything like that to happen again. She will always remember who is who. In fact, she is a sincere patriot of Ukraine, always has been, and will remain so in the future."

Dayana Yastremska who has reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open has failed to add fuel to the fire after being asked about the incident.

"You know Ukrainians, we have our position. We are not shaking the hands, but I think she is still a little bit young, not so experienced and it can happen with everyone you know.
"I cannot judge her because I don't know what was in her head, so did she make this on purpose or not on purpose I don't know, but I'm sure that she stands by Ukraine. And I'm sure that she just got too emotional and confused."