Belarus' Victoria Azarenka gesticulates after her loss in the fourth round match against Ukraine's Elina Svitolina. Photo: Hannah McKay/Reuters
With a mixture of rage and disbelief, Victoria Azarenka lashed out at the No. 1 Court crowd, and you could very well see why. She just competed in what may have been this year's championship match, a 2.5 hour match with Elina Svitolina, where she ended up losing 11-9 in a tiebreak in the final set with people booing her. And not just one or two people, but enough for any applause at her performance to be drowned out by a chorus of cat cries.
There were two possible explanations for this gloomy scene, neither of which did credit to Wimbledon spectators. First, they were offended that Azarenka did not shake hands with Svitolina, although the Ukrainian had made it clear in advance that she would not exchange such a gesture with Russian or Belarusian opponents. Another, even less instructive, was that they attacked the former world number one just because she was from Belarus.
On the whole, the first theory seems more convincing. After all, few things irritate the Wimbledon audience more than a breach of etiquette, whether real or imagined. Some of the loudest claps on show courts are reserved for referee reminders not to yell during scoring or take flash photos. And so, when Azarenka did not respond to post-match courtesies with Svitolina online, poorly disguised indignation followed.
The problem was that those who insulted her seemed to be oblivious to the essential context: namely, that it was Svitolina who vetoed the handshake, and that Azarenka merely warned the snub. Alas, this nuance rather disappeared in the drunken stupor that enveloped the Sunday twilight. Azarenka's analysis of how she was treated was as insightful as it was accurate: «There must have been a lot of Pimm during the day.» .jpg» /> Wimbledon crowd. Photo: Heathcliff O'Malley for TMG
Not that vitriol was any more forgivable because it was fueled by alcohol. The shouting that tennis fans gave two weeks of the year to Azarenka, the two-time world champion who made a huge contribution to their evening entertainment, was, frankly, a shame. Although Wimbledon has at times an air of lofty self-congratulation, and rallies are held in an air of reverent silence rarely seen in Paris, New York or Melbourne, some of the public acts this year bordered on the offense.
Apart from the case of the uncorked bottle of champagne interrupting Anastasia Potapova's serve, we saw Australian Daria Saville complain after losing to Katie Boulter about being pushed away by a group of young men simulating bowel sounds from the back of Court 18. Some hostility towards Novak Djokovic in the center was also gloomy: the Serbian's five-year-old daughter Tara was even provoked to shush in response.
When did this most traditionally sedate and dignified of sports parishes become so disrespectful? Usually the thing that players have to worry about the most is the occasional «C'mon, Tim!» But the attack on Azarenka revealed an uglier undercurrent, a willingness to scold Azarenka for her nationality and a perceived lack of grace without any knowledge of the background.
This irrationality is not unprecedented at Wimbledon. Djokovic was constantly scolded in a tournament he won seven times, and for no other reason than the fact that he is not Roger Federer, the man has always guaranteed a more enthusiastic standing ovation in SW19 than if he showed up at the Credit Suisse convention in Geneva. . The treatment of Azarenka is a product of the same limited thinking. She has no control over the country where she was born, besides, she has long lived in Florida. In March 2022, she said: “I have always seen Ukrainians and Belarusians as friendly and supportive of each other. It is hard to watch the violent division taking place.”
She is not responsible on any level for the barbarism committed against Ukraine by Vladimir Putin and Alexander Lukashenko, the President of Belarus. The question of whether she or her countrymen should play at Wimbledon is much more pressing as the All England Club has to trudge, kicking and screaming to join other tournaments to re-admit Russian and Belarusian players as neutrals. But now that Azarenka has been allowed to return, she deserves more than bullying for not shaking hands, which she didn't even come up with. “It was unfair,” she said, and it’s hard to argue with that. And this is perhaps the saddest moment: some at Wimbledon forgot not only about decency, but also about fair play.
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