Belarus’ Sabalenka waits for a handshake from Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina at French Open, meets media

PARIS — Aryna Sabalenka smacked a forehand winner to reach the French Open semifinals for the first time, then strode forward. Although not, apparently, obvious to the second-seeded Sabalenka in that moment; she explained — while speaking with the media after avoiding news conferences after the preceding two contests — that she went to the net out of “instinct.” Nor, apparently, obvious to some members of the crowd at Court Philippe Chatrier for Sabalenka’s 6-4, 6-4 victory, because there was a smattering of boos directed at Svitolina afterward, thinking she was breaching tennis etiquette, not taking a stand related to what is happening in her country. was like, ’What are you doing?” Asked whether Sabalenka might have inflamed the situation by waiting at the net, Svitolina replied: “Yeah, I think so, unfortunately.” In Thursday’s semifinals, Sabalenka will play unseeded Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic, a 7-5, 6-2 winner over 2021 runner-up Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Sabalenka returned to the standard Q-and-A setting with reporters Tuesday, after skipping two such sessions because, she said, she “did not feel safe” after being asked about Belarus and Ukraine at her news conference last Wednesday — which was attended by a journalist from Ukraine who now is no longer at the tournament — and wanted to protect her “mental health and well-being.” Sabalenka said Tuesday that she “felt really bad not coming” to do interviews and “all those bad feelings was in my head, I couldn’t fall asleep.” She also said she didn’t regret it, because she “felt really disrespected” and felt as if the occasion “became a political TV show.” Sabalenka said she did feel safe Tuesday, “probably because I had a few days to switch off” and because “nobody’s putting words in my mouth.” One of the topics of earlier news conferences was raised again Tuesday: her relationship with Belarus’ authoritarian leader, President Alexander Lukashenko. “I mean, I don’t support war, meaning I don’t support Lukashenko right now.” Svitolina had become a fan favorite during this tournament, at least in part because this was her first major in nearly 1 1/2 years after being away from tennis while having a baby — which is why she came to Paris “with zero hopes, with zero expectations,” she said, even as someone who twice was a Slam semifinalist — and because she is married to a French player, Gael Monfils, who was in the stands Tuesday.