{"id":270314,"date":"2026-01-29T15:15:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T15:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/270314\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T15:15:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T15:15:11","slug":"elina-svitolina-and-aryna-sabalenka-refuse-to-shake-hands-after-australian-open-semi-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/270314\/","title":{"rendered":"Elina Svitolina and Aryna Sabalenka refuse to shake hands after Australian Open semi-final"},"content":{"rendered":"

Defeated by Belarusian No 1, Ukrainian says she is \u2018very, very lucky person\u2019 compared to \u2018horrible and terrifying life\u2019 for those still in homeland\n<\/p>\n

\"Elina<\/p>\n

Elina Svitolina of Ukraine plays a forehand return to Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus during their semi-final at the Australian Open today.<\/p>\n

\"Aryna<\/p>\n

Aryna Sabalenka celebrates after defeating Elina Svitolina.<\/p>\n

\"thumbnail:\"thumbnail:<\/p>\n

Elina Svitolina said she would not permit herself to be sad following her Australian Open semi-final loss to Aryna Sabalenka, adding that she was lucky to be playing tennis while people are suffering in her Ukraine homeland.<\/p>\n

Svitolina bowed out of her first semi-final at Melbourne Park with a 6-2 6-3 defeat to top-seeded Belarusian Sabalenka in a match overshadowed by geopolitical tensions.<\/p>\n

Russian and Belarusian players have been banned from representing their nations at Grand Slams and tour events since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, for which Belarus has been a staging ground.<\/p>\n

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Without naming Sabalenka in her press conference, Svitolina said she was “gutted” to lose against the world number one and be denied a maiden Grand Slam final at the age of 31.<\/p>\n

“But I feel like I should not be allowed to really be sad. I have a great position,” she told reporters.<\/p>\n

“I have this amazing opportunity to play on center court here, represent my country, to do it in a decent way, and to have the opportunity to use my words and just be there for my people.<\/p>\n

“Without any doubt … when I wake up in the morning, I see of course terrifying news, but then I see people watching my matches. They write comments and they are really \u2013 I think it’s like a big exchange of positive emotions.<\/p>\n

“So I cannot complain, you know, that people really living a horrible and terrifying life in Ukraine, so I should not be allowed to really be sad because I’m a very, very lucky person.”<\/p>\n

Unable to handle Sabalenka’s raw power, Svitolina was broken four times in the match while only able to convert one out of four break points against the 27-year-old Belarusian.<\/p>\n

The Ukrainian otherwise felt she gave a good account of herself against Sabalenka and at the Grand Slam overall.<\/p>\n

Svitolina said she had felt support from a lot of people watching her matches in Ukraine and was glad to give them some joy.<\/p>\n

“I tried to do what’s in my power,” she added.<\/p>\n

“It’s important because I also know when I go back to Ukraine, I see people are really stuck in the routine.<\/p>\n

“It’s dark days, grey days with so much negativity.<\/p>\n

“So I think sports, in general, for Ukraine really unites us as a people and unites us with these great emotions.” <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Defeated by Belarusian No 1, Ukrainian says she is \u2018very, very lucky person\u2019 compared to \u2018horrible and terrifying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270315,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[986,61,60,112],"class_list":{"0":"post-270314","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}