The 25-year-old Belarusian had been pressed with questions at the start of Roland Garros about her position on the invasion of Ukraine and her ties to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, an ally of Russia. She then decided, with the agreement of the tournament, not to give a press conference for two rounds, before appearing again after her victory over Ukraine's Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-4 on Tuesday.
Until then, Sabalenka, who could become world N.1 at the end of the Parisian fortnight, had never really spoken in his own name, but more generally.
"No Russian or Belarusian athlete supports the war. Why do we have to say this kind of thing loud and clear? It's obvious, like 1 + 1 = 2," she said after her first-round match against another Ukrainian, Marta Kostyuk.
Asked on Tuesday about her links with Lukashenko, whom she has met multiple times, "We played a lot of Fed Cup matches in Belarus, and he was with us, he was taking pictures of us. Nothing bad was happening at the time in Belarus, Russia or Ukraine," she said.
"I've said it many times: +I don't support war. I don't want my country to be involved in a conflict. (...) I don't support this war," she said. "I don't want sport to be mixed up in politics because I'm just a 25-year-old tennis player. I just want to be a tennis player."
Asked again about her support for Mr Lukashenko, "this is a difficult question. I don't support the war, so I don't support Lukashenko right now," Sabalenka replied.
On her decision not to come to a press conference after her two previous matches, "I do not regret," she explained. "I wasn't feeling well. In Grand Slams, there's already enough pressure to deal with like that, and I'm just trying to focus on myself and my game. I felt like my last press conference turned into a political TV show," she said. I don't have any experience in politics, I'm just a tennis player. I needed to take a step back and focus on my tennis, my game. I'm here today, and I'm ready to answer any questions you may have."
© 2023 AFP