Aryna Sabalenka discusses hate she experienced in locker room

• Aryna Sabalenka discusses the hate she experienced in the locker room.
• Sabalenka lost in the Indian Wells final to Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina.
• The tension had occasionally extended beyond awkward silences and abrupt conversations.

The second-ranked Belarusian women’s tennis player, Aryna Sabalenka, recently disclosed that she has encountered hostility in the locker room of the women’s tour. In spite of this, she stays hopeful that the pressures between players from Belarus and Ukraine will die down over the long run.

Sabalenka, who won the Australian Open, lost in the Indian Wells final to Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina on Sunday. At the media day for this week’s ATP-WTA Miami Open, she was asked about her recent comments about “tensions” in the locker room between players from Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus.

Aryna said, “It was really, really tough for me because I’ve never faced that much hate in the locker room,”

“Of course, there are a lot of haters on Instagram when you’re losing the matches, but like in the locker room, I’ve never faced that,”

She added, “It was really tough for me to understand that there’s so many people who really hate me for no reason, like no reason. I mean, like I did nothing.”

According to Sabalenka, the tension had occasionally extended beyond awkward silences and abrupt conversations.

“I had some, not like fights, but I had some weird conversations with, not the girls, but with members of their team. It was really, it was tough. It was tough period. But, now it’s getting better.”

She said, “I was really struggling with that because I really felt bad, like I did something and it’s still not so good in the locker room with some of the Ukrainian girls. But then I realised that it’s not my fault and I did nothing bad to them. And I’m pretty sure that the rest of the Russian and Belarusian athletes did nothing to Ukrainians,”

“I just realized that this is all emotions and I just need to like ignore it and focus on myself with understanding that I did nothing bad. And I cannot control emotions of others,”

“It seems like, everyone’s just ignoring each other,”

“Not everyone actually, I’m still talking to some of the Ukrainians, but there are some of the girls who are like really aggressive against us. So I’m just staying away from that.”

“Everything we discuss in tennis is about Belarusian and Russian players,” Polish world number one Iga Swiatek said of the WTA’s lack of support for Ukrainian players.

Another Belarusian player, double cross Australian Open champ Victoria Azarenka, said she contradicted that view.

Azarenka said, “Obviously there is certain players that have different feelings and behaviors. Overall I don’t necessarily share the same opinion as Iga does. I would encourage her to look at the things that have been done before she makes comments,”

“Obviously as a player council (member) I am happy to provide all those facts that have been done. And I think that would be a more appropriate way to have that conversation,” she added.

Sabalenka stated that she hopes the British organizers will reconsider their decision to exclude the Russian and Belarusian players from this year’s Wimbledon tournament.

She said, “I was really sad about the decision (last year), but I cannot control their decision. And I just really hope that they will let us play this year.”

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