[1/5] Tennis - French Open - Roland Garros, Paris, France - June 4, 2023 Russia's Daria Kasatkina gestures at the net after losing her fourth round match against Ukraine's Elina Svitolina REUTERS/Benoit TessierPARIS, June 5 (Reuters) - Russian Daria Kasatkina said she left the French Open with a bitter taste in her mouth after being booed off by the crowd following her fourth-round defeat against Ukraine's Elina Svitolina on Sunday.
Svitolina had said she would not shake hands with Russian or Belarusian players at Roland Garros because of Russia's invasion of her country.
Kasatkina has been one of very few Russian players to speak out against the war, calling it "a full nightmare".
Geopolitics have been at the centre of this year's French Open, with Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus skipping her post-match press conference twice, saying she felt unsafe after being grilled about the war.
Last week, two-time French Open champion Novak Djokovic started a controversy after writing on a camera lens "Kosovo is the heart of Serbia" amid unrest in the region.
Persons:
Roland Garros, Daria, Ukraine's Elina Svitolina REUTERS, Benoit Tessier PARIS, Daria Kasatkina, Ukraine's Elina Svitolina, Svitolina, Kasatkina, Zemfira, I’ve, Elina, Aryna Sabalenka, Novak Djokovic, Julien Pretot, Angus MacSwan
Organizations:
Moscow, Russian, Twitter, Thomson
Locations:
Paris, France, Belarusian, Belarus, Russian, Ukraine, Kosovo, Serbia