The 2023 French Open caught many eyebrows after Elina Svitolina’s shocking act. After her quarterfinal defeat against Aryna Sabalenka, she refused to shake hands with her opponent, even as Sabalenka waited at the net. This came amid growing tensions owing to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The geopolitical tensions had got the better of Svitolina, leading to this action from her. As the two prepare for a rematch later today, fans can’t keep calm on social media.

Sabalenka will face Svitolina in the pre-quarterfinal match at the Italian Open. While the Ukrainian star will be out to take revenge, Sabalenka will look to repeat her French Open performance against Svitolina. Meanwhile, fans are all set to witness the thriller, and one fan commented on Twitter, “ready for the rematch tonight.”

Subsequently, a Sabalenka fan urged her to remain cautious against Svitolina, saying, “Sabalenka needs to be careful tomorrow. Svitolina loves playing her heart out against the Russians…”

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On the other hand, one of the fans was excited to witness this thrilling contest. The comment read, “I am extremely looking forward to seeing Svitolina – Sabalenka.” (Translated using Google Translate)

Further, a Twitter user had an interesting say on this exciting clash. For the match between Swiatek and Kerber, they put out an emoji of 1 popcorn tub, for the Zheng vs. Osaka clash, two popcorn tubs and for the match between Sabalenka and Svitolina, three popcorn tubs.

Lastly, one fan rated the match between Svitolina and Sabalenka as the highest, saying, “WTA 1000 Internazionali BNL D’Italia. Most interesting match for tomorrow Elina Svitolina vs Aryna Sabalenka.”

Meanwhile, Svitolina has been firm in her defense of not shaking hands with Russian and Belarusian players. Stars like Sabalenka and Victoria Azarenka have been at the receiving end of Svitolina’s actions. However, the Ukrainian tennis star once reasoned out why she did so.

When Elina Svitolina wanted to fight the battle on the court

It was an emotional time for Svitolina watching her country get affected due to geopolitical tensions. While forces have fought the battle at the borders, Svitolina urged her fellow country people to fight it at their respective fronts. For Svitolina, it was the tennis court and hence she refused to greet players of Russia and Belarus.

She went on to explain, “Everyone should fight on their own front,” she says. “Of course the main front is our soldiers, and we try to support them with everything that we’ve got… with money…trying to help them to fight the enemy. Also it is important to help them not lose their spirit. They still follow the sport, they read the news. For us, it’s our united decision to fight this war.”

It’ll be an interesting encounter between Svitolina and Sabalenka in Rome. Their match will take place on the Center Court later today.