The father of Ukrainian woman Kotlyar called his daughter’s handshake with Russian woman Mincheva a mistake
Konstantin Kotlyar, the father of Ukrainian tennis player Elizaveta Kotlyar, appreciated his daughter’s handshake with Russian Vlada Mincheva at the Australian Open (AO). His words are quoted on the Ukrainian Tennis Federation Facebook page (a social network banned in the Russian Federation; owned by the Meta corporation, which is recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation and is prohibited).
Kotlyar called the incident a mistake. He noted that the 16-year-old tennis player is very sorry and assures that she will never allow herself to do anything like that again.
“Unfortunately, my daughter did not feel calm, her emotions were overflowing, so she did not fully control her behavior. She automatically performed the post-match ritual – she shook her opponent’s hand, not realizing that there was a representative of Russia behind the net,” said Kotlyar Sr.
Kotlyar and Mincheva shook hands after the first round match of the junior AO. The meeting ended with a score of 6:2, 6:4 in favor of the Russian.
Ukrainian tennis players usually do not shake hands with Russians and Belarusians and do not take joint photos after matches. In response to this, spectators sometimes boo the athletes.
Source: Lenta
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