After evading the normally mandatory exercise of the press conference after his two previous matches, with the agreement of the Parisian tournament, Sabalenka presented himself this time after his 6-4, 6-4 victory against the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, a new match with a political dimension.

The 25-year-old Belarusian, who could become world No. 1 at the end of the Parisian fortnight, did not avoid political questions, and this time answered them. Without mincing words. "I don't support the war, which means I don't support Lukashenko right now," Sabalenka said for the first time.

"I don't support this war"

"I don't support war. I don't want my country to be involved in a conflict. You know what my position is (...) 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."

Sabalenka's decision not to come to a press conference after his previous two matches, on the grounds of preserving his "own mental health" and "well-being", followed his appearance before the press after his second round. In a tense exchange, a Ukrainian journalist had urged her to explain her links with Mr. Lukashenko.

Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka during her match Tuesday at Roland Garros against Ukraine's Elina Svitolina. © Thomas SAMSON / AFP

"We played a lot of Fed Cup games 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 on Tuesday.

Sabalenka has met Lukashenko many times in the past. From 2018, they met one-on-one. At the request of the young player, says the state agency Belta.

On December 31, 2020, after a year marked by the crushing of pro-democracy protests in Belarus, Sabalenka participates in a New Year's toast with Lukashenko in Minsk, along with other figures supporting the regime.

At the same time, according to the Flata agency, she signed an open letter, like 3,000 other Belarusian athletes, against the creation of a "Union of Free Sportsmen of Belarus" supporting the political opposition.

Posted to the net

Until then, Sabalenka 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.

Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka posted to the net waiting to shake hands with Ukraine's Elina Svitolina after their match Tuesday at Roland Garros. © Thomas SAMSON / AFP

Against Svitolina, Sabalenka played another match with a political dimension on Tuesday afternoon. At the end of the match, when the world No. 2 stood with her hands on the net, Svitolina did not come to shake her hand, as Ukrainian players now do when they face Russian and Belarusian players, and went straight back to her chair.

Asked if Sabalenka's attitude added fuel to the fire, Svitolina replied: "I think so, unfortunately."

For Muchova, this will be her second major semifinal after the one she played (and lost) at the 2021 Australian Open.

"My first reaction was to say: +What are you doing?+. Because I have clearly stated my position," added the Ukrainian, back in the quarterfinals of Grand Slam less than eight months after giving birth to her first child last October, a little girl born from her union with Gael Monfils, named Skaï.

Ukraine's Elina Svitolina shakes hands with the referee in front of Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka after their match Tuesday at Roland Garros. © Thomas SAMSON / AFP

For a place in the final, Sabalenka will face Czech Karolina Muchova (43rd) on Thursday, who beat Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-5, 6-2 earlier in the day.

© 2023 AFP