Ukrainian tennis player Anhelina Kalinina chose not to shake hands with Russian Veronika Kudermetova after defeating her in three sets (7-5, 5-7, 6-2) in the semifinals of the Italian Open. And to those who asked her why she explained: "We did not shake hands because Kudermetova is basically Russian, nothing personal but Russia is the country that attacked Ukraine". It is the second time, in this edition of the Italian Open, that she denies the handshake to a Russian opponent: in the second round she had happened with Blinkova. "This is sport, I understand, but it is also political - said Kalinina -. So nothing personal, but it's not acceptable for me to shake hands."
The tennis player from Nova Kakhovka, in southern Ukraine, however, denied that her ups and downs during the competition were due to nervousness about being faced with a Russian athlete: "Veronika is a great player, it was a battle, but there was only tennis on the court". With the prize won at Wimbledon, Kalinina is helping her grandparents rebuild the house destroyed by Russian bombing as well as helping a dozen people in Ukraine. Thanks to her qualification in the final of the Internationals she will now get another 521 thousand euros if she wins, 272 thousand if she were to finish second. And with that money he intends to help other people in his country. Today Kalinine's family lives in Kiev, despite being originally from Nova Kakhovka: "But it was impossible for them to continue living there. There were too many weapons and too many soldiers close to home. It was hard to leave, they had lived there for 65 years."
About a year ago, last June, during a match in the first round of the WTA tournament in Berlin against Russian Daria Kasatkina, at one point Kalinina had collapsed to the ground on the grass, crying in pain and touching her calf. Kasatkina ran to get a bag of ice and, turning around the net, brought it to the contestant. The match then resumed and ended with Kasatkina winning 5-7, 6-3, 6-1.