Geopolitical questions continue to grab headlines at Roland Garros, one of the four Grand Slam tournaments, with disputes relating to Ukraine and Kosovo erupting in recent days.
On Friday, Ukrainian tennis player Elina Svitolina confirmed she would not shake hands with Russian or Belarusian players competing in the French Open. “I am Ukrainian. I am standing for my country, doing anything possible to support men and women who are right now in the front line fighting for our land, our country,” Svitolina explained.
“Can you imagine the guy or girl in the front line looking at me and I am acting like nothing is happening?” said Svitolina. “For us, it’s just our position in this, and it touches many different areas. It touches sport, it touches acting.”
The very inclusion of players from Russia and Belarus in tennis tournaments has been a contentious issue since last year, when the invasion began. It has since emerged that Russia has committed war crimes in Ukraine.
Many European lawmakers have lobbied against the inclusion of Russia and Belarus.
“Our common goal is for sporting bodies to minimize the ability of Russia and Belarus to use sport for political gain,” explained U.K. culture minister Lucy Frazer in an April speech.
While Roland Garros has allowed Russian and Belarusian players to compete under neutral flags, Wimbledon took the opposite approach in 2022, banning them entirely, for which it suffered penalties from its governing body. This year, Wimbledon will allow athletes from the two countries as long as they enter as neutral, self-funded athletes.
The International Olympic Committee announced last month that it too would reverse course and allow athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete as neutrals as long as they have no military links. Ukraine said in response that it will not take part in competitions that admit Russians or Belarusians.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has argued that “the Russian state has chosen the path of terror, and that is why it has no place in the civilized world.”
“How many Russian athletes have spoken out to condemn the terror unleashed by their state?” Zelensky asked, as quoted by the Washington Post.
Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko seemed to confirm that the neutral designation is just a slap on the wrist. Earlier this year, he hailed the victory of Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in January’s Australian Open and explained everyone knows where she comes from even if she competes under a neutral flag.
On the first day of the French Open, Ukrainian tennis player Marta Kostyuk opted not to shake hands with Sabalenka. The audience, which had been on Kostyuk’s side during the match, booed the Ukrainian. In defense of herself, Kostyuk argued in a press conference that Sabalenka “never says that she personally doesn’t support this war.”
After Sabalenka’s second-round match, a Ukrainian journalist asked Sabalenka about her relationship with Lukashenko, whom Sabalenka has met in the past. Lukashenko is openly supportive of the Russian invasion and Belarus has been accused of being a staging ground for Russian troops.
“I have no comments to you, so thank you for your question,” Sabalenka responded.
Days later, Sabalenka would be permitted to skip a news conference. “I should be able to feel safe when I do interviews with the journalists after my matches. For my own mental health and well-being, I have decided to take myself out of this situation today, and the tournament has supported me in this decision,” Sabalenka argued.
Roland Garros notably took a hard line two years ago when Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka skipped a news conference. Osaka was fined $15,000 by the tournament referee, and she was threatened with expulsion from the French Open and other harsh penalties if she would not fulfill her media obligations. Osaka dropped out of the French Open in response.
On the men’s side, Novak Djokovic decided to wade into geopolitics himself, writing on a camera after a victory: “Kosovo is at the heart of Serbia.”
Serbia, which failed to prevent genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina and committed war crimes in Kosovo, had expansionist aspirations in the 1990s. The U.S. and NATO intervened in the conflicts to stop Serbia from accomplishing its objectives and committing further human-rights abuses. Kosovo declared independence in 2008 and is recognized by most Western countries, but not by Serbia.
In recent days, clashes have broken out between ethnic Serbs and NATO forces in the north of the Kosovo. Ethnic Serbs boycotted elections themselves and then, when four democratically-elected mayors were seated, tensions boiled over. Serbian prime minister Aleksandar Vučić has sent the military close to the border and his government has been accused of instigating the clashes.
Djokovic doubled down on his comments in the press conference. “I empathize with all people, but the situation with Kosovo is a precedent in international law,” said Djokovic, calling Kosovo “our hearthstone, our stronghold,” and saying, “our most important monasteries are there.”
Roland Garros decided not to punish Djokovic, but the Serbian was widely condemned for his comments.
The Kosovo Olympic Committee (KOC) requested that the International Olympic Committee open up disciplinary proceedings against the tennis player. “Novak Djokovic has yet again promoted the Serbian nationalists’ propaganda and used the sport platform to do so,” Ismet Krasniqi, the president of the KOC, said in a statement.
French Sports minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra called his words inappropriate and warned him from spreading such political messages again.
“When you carry messages about defending human rights, messages that bring people together around universal values, a sportsperson is free to express them,” the minister explained to the Guardian, saying Djokovic’s comments did not fall under this category.
Djokovic, however, isn’t backing down.
“I would say it again, but I don’t need to because you have my quotes,” Djokovic said.