Aryna Sabalenka has apologised for an on-court outburst during her loss to Elina Svitolina at the WTA Finals in Indian Wells. The Belarusian denied that her words were aimed at the Ukrainian. Svitolina won 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 on Friday, knocking the four-time Grand Slam winner out of the tournament.
A video of Sabalenka gesturing angrily and swearing went viral on social media on Saturday. BBC Sport, quoted by Nile Post, reported that she swore in Russian. Some commenters read her words as an insult to Svitolina or to Ukrainians in general, according to SuperSport and Citizen Digital.
In an Instagram post on Saturday, Sabalenka said her comment "was not directed at Elina". She said a small group of spectators had been "aggressively cheering my mistakes" and that she reacted emotionally. She added that she should have handled her frustration differently and apologised to anyone offended. She also praised Svitolina's play and wished her well for the rest of the tournament.
Svitolina responded to the statement on Saturday. She said many Ukrainians had come to watch with flags and wanted her to win that match in particular. "We've played many times with Aryna… she has her fans. I have my fans," she said. She said she had seen only "the glimpse of it" on social media and hoped matches between the two would be respected.
Svitolina added that some of their earlier matches had brought "not great comments" towards her about the war. She said things on social media sometimes get "turned around a little bit". Citizen Digital reported that she reached the WTA Finals title match with a win over Linda Noskova on Saturday.
Svitolina has refused to shake hands with players from Russia and its ally Belarus since Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022. According to Nile Post, Ukrainian players also skip pre-match photographs with Russian and Belarusian opponents.