Aryna Sabalenka apologized on Saturday for her angry outburst during her defeat by Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina at the WTA Finals.
Television footage appeared to show the Belarusian swearing during Friday’s round-robin match, with some social media users interpreting her remarks as being directed at Svitolina or Ukrainians.
The loss eliminated Sabalenka from the season-ending tournament.
“My comment was not directed at Elina,” Sabalenka said in a social media post.
“I was frustrated with a small group of spectators who were aggressively cheering my mistakes, and I reacted emotionally in the moment.
“That said, I should have handled my frustration differently, and I apologize to anyone I offended.
“Elina played a great match, and I wish her all the best for the rest of the tournament.”
Svitolina did not shake hands with Sabalenka after the match, maintaining her policy of not doing so with Russian or Belarusian opponents following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow launched with Belarus as a staging ground.
Asked about her reaction to Sabalenka’s apology, Svitolina called for mutual respect, acknowledging that fans’ passions can sometimes run high.
“We’ve played many times with Aryna. She has her fans, I have my fans,” she told reporters after her semi-final win over Linda Noskova on Saturday.
She expressed hope that matches between the two of them would be respected, “because yes, sometimes in some matches that we’ve played, also been not great comments towards me in regards of the war.”
Svitolina, the 2018 WTA Finals champion, faces Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva in Sunday’s final.
