All England Club Chief Executive Sally Bolton took to the media in a press conference today amid the controversy surrounding Victoria Azarenka and Elina Svitolina’s match on Court One.
Following Belarusian Azarenka’s loss to Ukraine’s Svitolina, Wimbledon officials have announced that they do not have any plans to release a statement regarding the booing incident that took place during the match.
In a dramatic clash that saw both women toil hard to secure their spot in the next round, Svitolina reigned supreme as she came back twice and put away the former World No.1 6-2 4-6 6-7 in three fiery sets to reach the Wimbledon quarter-final for the second time in her career.
Epic. Elina ✨@ElinaSvitolina outlasts Victoria Azarenka in a rollercoaster three-set thriller to progress to the quarter-finals 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(9) 👏#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/vikVFGuTFj— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 9, 2023
Following their heated clash, Azarenka and Svitolina did not shake hands as a sign of protest over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Azarenka, who hails from Belarus which is a key military ally of Moscow, held her hand up in a gesture of respect for her rival and left the court to a chorus of boos from sections of the attending crowd.
Former World No.1 Azarenka was shocked by the vehemence of the crowd and said that the treatment " wasn’t fair".
Svitolina and all her fellow Ukrain players have all refused to shake hands with Russian and Belarusian rivals at the recent French Open as well.
“I don’t know if it’s maybe not clear for people, some people not really knowing what is happening," she said. “So I think this is the right (thing) to do," said Svitolina.
Many rallied behind Azarenka and Svitolina saying that potential statements are needed from the tournament to address the handshakes but Bolton dispelled that notion, stating that handshakes were a “personal decision" for the players.
“We aren’t in a position where we can control the crowds here at Wimbledon. We traditionally have a hugely respectful crowd here and I expect that we will continue to see that as we head into the rest of the tournament," said Bolton.
Azarenka raised claims that the crowd was “quite drunk", but the All England Club Chief Executive maintained her stance on the issue, stating that it would be impossible to control the crowd.
“That’s not an issue that we recognise. What I would say is what we all saw in that match was an extremely high-intensity well-matched contest that had the crowd absolutely on the edge of their seats. So the atmosphere in there was incredible. And that was driven by the quality of what they were seeing on the court.”