At Roland-Garros,

We do not like to generalize but, after a while, we must know how to say stop to stupidity. So: if the Roland-Garros audience was a feeling, it would be embarrassment incarnate. After booing the young Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk for not shaking hands with Belarusian Sabalenka, close to dictator Alexander Lukashenko and Putin's supporter in the war in Ukraine, after behaving like a gougnafier with the sympathetic Taylor Fritz during his victory against Rinderknech, the last Frenchman in contention last Thursday, he attacked Russia's Daria Kasatkina on Sunday night after her two-set loss to Elina Svitolina.



The reason? Hard to know in reality. Because she is Russian? Because she didn't shake hands with Svitolina after the match? Honestly, since the Central rotted Kostyuk and gave Sabalenka a standing ovation, we have not stopped looking for any political positioning of this public more volatile than a Manuel Valls of the great era. All we know is that the public has again missed an opportunity to remain silent. And that it's starting to do a lot.

Kasatkina supports Ukraine, opposes Putin

What the public obviously did not know is that despite the more than tense situation on the circuit between the Russians and the Ukrainians, Daria Kasatkina and Elina Svitolina have great mutual respect. If the two players did not shake hands after the match on Sunday night, it was by mutual agreement, Kasatkina understanding well how such a gesture could be badly perceived in Ukraine for Svitolina. "They have reasons not to," she said last March in Madrid, after her match against Lesia Tsurenko, another Ukrainian. On Sunday, the two players were content to greet each other from afar with a thumb gesture.


The level of stupidity of the people who whistled Kasatkina...

1- She did not refuse to shake hands with Svitolina 2- They greeted each other from afar
3- Kasatkina has taken a clear position against the war and Putin
4- Svitolina
knows this and has thanked her several times. https://t.co/bqxXFI7Y3S

— Quentin Moynet (@QuentinMoynet) June 5, 2023

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If "Dasha" Kasatkina is appreciated on the Ukrainian side, it is for its very clear political positions vis-à-vis the Russian invasion. From the outset, she declared herself against the war and "in solidarity" with her "Ukrainian friends". She does not hesitate, unlike many of her compatriots on the circuit, to speak to the Ukrainian players and assure them of her support. "I thank her for taking a stand," said Elina Svitolina two days before the match. That's what I expect from the other players and it's very brave of him."

The player hit by the whistles

Clearly opposed to Vladimir Putin, Kasatkina did not hesitate to reveal her homosexuality last July, as a middle finger sent to the face of the Russian leader. Living in Spain with his partner, Russian-Estonian skater Natalia Zabiiako, she fell out of the closet when she heard the audience whistling copiously. She who explained feeling good in France since the beginning of the tournament, evoking in particular the "march of freedoms" that she was going to "support from (her) hotel and on the tennis courts", did not understand the reaction of an audience, a priori less aware of her courage than the rates of Moët & Chandon at Roland.

"I leave Paris with a very bitter feeling. Every day, after every game I've played in Paris, I've always appreciated and thanked the crowd for their support. But yesterday I was booed for simply respecting my opponent's position of not shaking his hand," she wrote on Twitter. Me and Elina were respectful after a tough match, but leaving the pitch like that was the worst moment of my day. Be better, love one another. Don't spread hatred. Try to make this world a better place. I would love Roland Garros no matter what, always and forever. See you next year! The class to the end.


  • Roland-Garros 2023
  • Tennis
  • Sport
  • War in Ukraine
  • Ile