Sabalenka apologises over viral clip, says comment was not aimed at Svitolina

Aryna Sabalenka has apologised and denied insulting Elina Svitolina after a viral clip showed her swearing in Russian during her WTA Finals defeat by the Ukrainian.

The Belarusian world number two lost 6-3 3-6 6-1 on Friday, a result that sent Svitolina into the semi-finals and knocked Sabalenka out of the tournament in Indian Wells. The video, showing Sabalenka angrily gesturing and swearing, was posted on social media on Saturday.

An apology and a denial

In a statement on her Instagram story, Sabalenka wrote: “My comment was not directed at Elina.” She said she had been frustrated with a small group of spectators who were aggressively cheering her mistakes, and had reacted emotionally.

The 28-year-old added that she should have handled her frustration differently. “I apologise to anyone I offended,” she wrote. She said Svitolina had played a great match and wished her all the best for the rest of the tournament.

Lip-reading claims and calls for a suspension

The sound on the clip is inaudible. Some social media users, relying on lip-reading, claimed she had insulted Svitolina or Ukrainians in Russian, and some commentators interpreted her words that way. Tennis Majors reports that the interpretations differ and could not be independently verified.

Belarusian opposition politician Pavel Latushka called her behaviour “absolutely unacceptable” on X and demanded that she be “suspended from all WTA-sanctioned tournaments”. The WTA had not commented at the time of writing, according to Tennis Majors.

Svitolina and the handshake

Svitolina made no reference to the incident after the match, Tennis Majors reports. Ukrainian players have a long-standing policy of not shaking hands with Russian or Belarusian players because of the invasion of their country, and they do not take pre-match photographs with them, according to BBC Sport. Svitolina did not shake hands with Sabalenka at the end of the match.

No sanction has been announced.