Hours After Hostile French Open Crowd’s Incessant Booing, Daria Kasatkina’s Girlfriend Sends a Message of Love as She Joins Scores of Fans to Stand by the Courageous Russian

You would think that war and tennis are a million miles away from each other. However, if you’ve followed the 2023 French Open so far, you’d know that the reality is completely different. Until now, the tournament has seen multiple encounters between Ukrainian and Russian players. In fact, the tournament started with its first match pitting Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk against Belarusian ace Aryna Sabalenka. Kostyuk’s attitude towards Sabalenka was dead cold, and the Ukrainian refused to shake hands with her opponent simply because of Sabalenka’s nationality. After all, Russia is heavily relying on Belarus as a base for its military operations in Ukraine. The latest Russia vs Ukraine encounter at the 2023 French Open saw Russian Daria Kasatkina come up against Ukrainian Elina Svitolina.

Svitolina won and continued her remarkable run after returning to Grand Slam action. However, a moment of incredible positivity between Svitolina and Kasatkina quite rightly lit up the arena following its conclusion. Not long after, Kasatkina’s girlfriend, Natalia Zabiiako, took to Instagram to express how proud she was.

Daria Kasatkina’s girlfriend applauds the Russian’s stance

Since Russia engaged in conflict with Ukraine and invaded the country with all its military might, Russian athletes have suffered a great deal. Many of them were banned from participating in a multitude of sporting events last year. Even this year, numerous prominent sporting events are continuing to shun Russian athletes.

Several Ukrainian athletes have also adopted a stance that involves no handshakes and no pleasantries. However, the fact of the matter remains that none of the Russian athletes are to blame for the catastrophe Ukraine has been witnessing since last year. Amid such soaring tensions, Kasatkina proved her class by giving Svitolina a thumbs-up after their French Open encounter. Svitolina also reciprocated with the same gesture.

In an Instagram post, Kasatkina’s girlfriend Natalia Zabiiako shared an image of Kasatkina. Zabiiako also expressed her love for Kasatkina’s wonderful gesture. The gesture made waves around the world for spreading an important message in favor of love and peace. However, Kasatkina’s gesture somehow managed to irk the crowd at the Stade Roland Garros. As a result, Kasatkina herself took to social media to express her views on the incident.

Kasatkina’s social media response to boos following her loss against Elina Svitolina

As Kasatkina made her way to the bench after her heartbreaking defeat at the hands of Svitolina, she knew very well that Svitolina would not shake her hand. Subsequently, she proceeded to give Svitolina a thumbs-up. However, this did not go down well with the crowd. Loud boos started ringing out and shockingly, they didn’t stop until Kasatkina made her way out of the court.

Kasatkina later shared her feelings regarding the incident on Twitter. She stated that the crowd booed her simply because she was “being respectful on my opponent’s position not to shake hands”. She also encouraged tennis fans to “love each other” and not to give in to hate.

Fans poured in with their support in response to Kasatkina’s series of tweets. For instance, according to one of them, Kasatkina did not deserve to be booed at all.

Another fan applauded Kasatkina for her class and told her to steer clear of all the negativity that came her way.

Yet another fan congratulated Kasatkina for her undeniable “sportsmanship”.

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One fan opined that the crowd failed to grasp Kasatkina’s understanding of Svitolina’s stance.

Last but not least, a Kasatkina fan lauded her courage.

So, all in all, it’s safe to say that the overwhelming support Kasatkina received from her fans will keep her going in the tournaments to come.

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