[imagesource:wikicommons]

They say that politics has no place in sports, but what is a tennis player to do if they play against an opponent whose military is bombing their country’s civilians every day?

Play nice? Not if you are Ukrainian tennis player Marta Kostyuk.

It was bound to be a tense match as Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk faced off against Russia’s Anastasia Potapova in the Miami Open. After being defeated 6-1, 6-3 by Potapova, Kostyuk simply gathered her things and left the court without the traditional handshake over the nets. Her Russian opponent seemed to have expected this as neither lady looked very excited about the match.

Kostyuk has in the past also refused to shake hands with Russian opponents Varvara Gracheva and Victoria Azarenka, even though they are from Belarus. The Ukrainian player is quoted as saying “obviously there is tension – we’re not friends. We are at war at the moment.”

Her Miami Open opponent is also no stranger to controversy regarding Russia’s current status as warmongers. Potapova was warned by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) for pitching up at an Indian Wells match with a Spartak Moscow football shirt. Kostyuk also commented on the warning the Russian player received.

“There are a lot of things that I don’t agree with that the WTA is doing. This is not going to change anything. I’ll just get more hate online. Whatever I say, I will get a lot of hate. I don’t know. You [can] give her a warning. You can suspend someone, I don’t know. I can’t comment on that really, it’s just funny.”

Potapova has however denied that the shirt was a ‘political statement’.

“There was not any political intention in this shirt. It’s very sad that people seeing things that isn’t actually the truth. I’m just a super fan of Spartak since I was 10 years old. My dad built part of the stadium for this team, so it’s our family thing.”

Have a look at the tense ending to the match below.

Even though sports like to keep the machinations of global politics out of their games, it must be really hard for competitors to face off knowing that their countries are at war.

In this instance, we really can’t accuse Kostyuk of unsportsmanlike behaviour.

[source:guardian]