{"id":578476,"date":"2026-04-01T12:01:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T12:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/578476\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T12:01:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T12:01:09","slug":"tennis-players-refuse-to-shake-hands-amid-citizenship-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/578476\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennis players refuse to shake hands amid citizenship change"},"content":{"rendered":"

There was controversy at the Charleston Open 2026 after a handshake refusal between Polina Kudermetova and Oleksandra Oliynykova.<\/p>\n

The pair met in a round of 64 clash at the Athea Gibson Club Court, with Kudermetova prevailing 3-6, 7-6, 6-4 after more than two-and-a-half hours of action.<\/p>\n

Tennis<\/a> is a sport of fair play and sportsmanship and the etiquette includes a post-match interaction or acknowledgement that has been a tradition for a number of years.<\/p>\n

However, it is not mandatory or forced in the rulebook and so after Tuesday’s match, Kudermetova and Oliynykova declined to shake hands following the contest.<\/p>\n

The lack of handshake was not a spur of the moment decision, however, as a message on the screens informed spectators that there would be no gesture of respect.<\/p>\n

“The players will not shake hands at the conclusion of this match,\u201d the message read.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe appreciate your respect for both athletes following the match.\u201d<\/p>\n

As footage showed online, both players did shake hands with the umpire but then walked away from one another. The handshake snub appears to be politically-driven, with Kudermetova from Russia and Oliynykova hailing from Ukraine.<\/p>\n

\"PolinaPolina Kudermetova beat Oleksandra Oliynykova in the Charleston Open. Image: Getty<\/p>\n

Ukrainian players have regularly turned down handshakes with those connected to Russia and Belarus ever since the invasion engineered by Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n

Oliynykova has adopted the stance, even with Kudermetova no longer representing Russia after switching international allegiance<\/a> to Uzbekistan.<\/p>\n

Kudermetova was one of many Russian athletes to change flags in 2026, following on from Kamilla Rakhimova and Maria Timofeeva and the move saw her become the second-ranked Uzbekistani female player in the world.<\/p>\n

Her sister Kamilla still represents Russia and did not agree with the decision. Speaking in January, she said:<\/a> “Frankly, it\u2019s a sensitive topic for me. I don\u2019t approve of her decision; she didn\u2019t consult anyone\u2014it was a personal choice. <\/p>\n

“I believe her motivation to change sports nationality is both economic and the desire to qualify for the Olympics.<\/p>\n

“As a Russian athlete, it was difficult for her to reach a high ranking. But as part of Uzbekistan, she could achieve third or even second place in the ranking.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There was controversy at the Charleston Open 2026 after a handshake refusal between Polina Kudermetova and Oleksandra Oliynykova.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":578477,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":["post-578476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}