Team News

Belarusian Victoria Azarenka says “it wasn’t fair” she was booed off court by Wimbledon fans after losing a thriller to Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina.

Svitolina has not shaken hands with Russians or Belarusians after matches since the war in Ukraine started.

She has made her position clear many times but, after not meeting Azarenka at the net, it was the Belarusian who was jeered as she left Court One.

“What should I have done? Stayed and waited?” Azarenka asked reporters.

“She doesn’t want to shake hands with Russian, Belarusian people. I respected her decision.”

In front of a Wimbledon crowd giving her thunderous vocal support, wildcard Svitolina won a superb match 2-6 6-4 7-6 (11-9) to reach the quarter-finals.

After Svitolina took her first match point with an ace, Azarenka gave a respectful wave of her hand at the Ukrainian who did not respond.

Hearing the jeers as she walked off Court One, 33-year-old Azarenka paused as if to ask why and made a gesture to the spectators before disappearing.

Svitolina, 28, said she “could not really answer” if she was surprised at the hostile reaction of the British crowd to Azarenka.

Last month at the French Open, Svitolina was booed when she walked off court after not shaking hands with Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka following a quarter-final defeat.

“I feel like each player that loses, and there is no handshake, is getting booed,” said Svitolina, who only returned to playing three months ago after giving birth to daughter Skai in October.

“I think the tennis organisations have to come out with a statement that there will be no handshake between Russian/Belarusian and Ukrainian players.

“I don’t know if it’s maybe unclear for people.

“I already said multiple times that until Russian troops are out of Ukraine and we take back our territories, I’m not going to shake hands.

“I have clear statement. I don’t know how more clear I can be.”

The reaction to Azarenka was a remarkable end to a gripping contest and the former world number one hoped people would instead focus on the quality of the pair’s tennis.

“I thought it was a great match. If people are going to be focusing only on handshakes or crowd, quite drunk crowd, booing in the end, that’s a shame,” she added.

“It was a tennis match. Nobody’s changing lives here. We are playing tennis. We’re doing our jobs. That’s it.”

Yair Rodriguez failed to face the reigning champion of UFC 290, Alexander Volkanovski. A knockdown in the third round of the fight where the latter was confirmed as one of the strongest fighters on the planet in the sport of MMA.

The confrontation between the two took place on Saturday evening in Las Vegas, where the former US president, Donald Trump, was present among the guests in the company of the head of the UFC, Dana White.

The match was stopped by the referee after Volkanovski laid the rival in the ring by attacking him wildly and in order not to risk dangerous injuries for the Mexican, the match was stopped. The undefeated Australian is due to defend his title again in the coming months and will next face Ilia Topuria.

Formula 1 drivers are doing their best to change, with the aim of increasing the rivalry between the teams, however the Red Bull team at the moment looks like it comes from space, from another planet and understandably so unless something extraordinary happens Dutchman Max Verstappen that can now be considered a triple champion in the world’s fastest motoring competition.

Last season, the “flying Dutchman” recorded a total of 15 victories in the 22 races held. Translated differently, such a statistic is worth 68.18%, so put in a much simpler way, the reigning champion of Formula 1 managed to triumph last edition in more than 2/3 of the races programmed in the calendar.

This year, despite the great efforts of Ferrari or the leaders of the Mercedes team to improve their cars, the difference instead of narrowing seems to be increasing more and more, but above all it is very difficult to understand that until how hard is the Austrian team really trying?

Effort seems like a big word that probably doesn’t match the reality, if one notices the ease with which the Red Bull single-seaters command the races.

The teams have moved to Asia, Australia, Europe and North America, but the leaders of the Austrian team do not know how to stop. At the moment, the Red Bull team has won in all the continents where it has competed, and above all, where the 25-year-old Dutchman could not succeed, the Mexican Sergio Perez did his job best.

Checo triumphed in two of the first four stages of the 74th edition of Formula 1, in the Grand Prix in Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan, immediately leaving behind his teammate. Of course, in the current world of Formula 1, the main enemy is considered the colleague or partner of the team, and taking into account the things carried over from the end of the last season, it seemed as if between the two pilots Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez there was fun.

Checo hinted to various media that the leaders of the Austrian team were helping the 2-time world champion at his expense, however, time proved the opposite, giving the Dutch pilot the right.

If in the first half of 2023 Verstappen has not fallen below second place on the other side, the 33-year-old from Guadalajara has finished 4 of the first 9 races of the season outside the podium, where of course the result of the Monte Carlo Grand Prix stands out, where Checo was positioned in 16th place.

On the streets of the Principality Sergio Perez ended his adventure two laps behind Verstappen and the situation in the general classification of drivers is significant. After the first nine races Max Verstappen has accumulated 229 points, a full 81 points more than his teammate. Halfway through the championship, the Red Bull Racing team continues to dominate the season, winning all available races.

In the constructors’ world standings, the Austrian team leads with 377 points, i.e. more than double the points compared to the performance of the closest followers. Currently, the Mercedes and Aston Martin teams are classified in second and third place with 178 and 175 points respectively, while Ferrari, which is also considered the most successful team in the history of Formula 1, is positioned only in fourth place, with a quota of 154 points.

So Red Bull’s hegemony is clear and this season could well represent another record breaking year. Last weekend there were many controversies and fines for various drivers who exceeded the speed limits in certain corners, in a way opening old wounds for the drivers, however such problems were not at all the Red Bull team, who dominated in almost every home race aspect.

The only negative note in Spielberg was probably the second place of the Mexican Sergio Perez, because the reigning champion who won everything could be won. Leaving aside the superiority of the Red Bull single-seaters, Verstappen’s ability to control any kind of situation is still impressive.

So, for example, in the Austrian Grand Prix with a lot of arrogance the reigning champion had time at the end of the race to make an extra pit stop, to change tires with the aim of getting the extra point for the fastest lap, after starting from pole position and also triumphing in the sprint race.

This weekend the aim is to triumph at the legendary Silverstone circuit, where the Austrian team has failed to win in the last decade. Red Bull’s most recent British Grand Prix successes were achieved by German Sebastian Vettel in 2009 and Australian Mark Webber in the 2010 and 2012 seasons.

So only three wins in total for the Austrian team, so the Dutchman Max Verstappen will give his best to continue the path of success and mark his name on this legendary Formula 1 track.

The next eight days will be filled with anxiety for Juventus, who are awaiting the decision of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play Control Chamber.

Gazzetta dello Sport reports that the Bianconeri were found guilty of inflating player transfer fees to falsify capital gains last season, which led to a 10-point drop in Serie A.

Last year, Juventus agreed a Financial Fair Play deal with UEFA based on questionable balance sheets that saw them sign a deal and pay a small part of the €23m fine. only about 3.5 million euros.

Because of this, Juventus will likely be banned from European competition for a season and forced to pay the rest of that €23m fine. It is expected that this decision will be taken before July 14.

If a decision is not reached before then, the punishment would be postponed until the 2024-25 season, something that would represent a greater economic loss for the whites, who expect to reach qualification for the Champions League next season.