"Not sure a lot of people were understanding what's happening" - Victoria Azarenka brushes off Wimbledon booing after handshake controversy

Victoria Azarenka has expressed her disappointment with the hostile reception she got from the crowd at Wimbledon.

Russian and Belarusian players have been under the spotlight, especially at the Wimbledon Championships, since Russia's decision to invade Ukraine last year. Last year's tournament took the unprecedented step of banning players from the two countries, a decision that saw the event being stripped of its ranking points.

While Russian and Belarusian players have been allowed to compete at SW19 this year, fans have not always been kind to them. Azarenka was the latest player to face the wrath of the crowd, as she was booed off the court after her defeat to Elena Svitolina.

At her post-match press conference, the Belarusian was asked for her opinion on the crowd's reaction. She, however, was in no mood to answer the question and instead asked the media for their thoughts on it.

"What do you think? What do you think how was the crowd? No, but what do you think? How do you think that crowd was in the end? What's your opinion?" she asked.

When one journalist stated that it was an unfair reaction from the crowd, Azarenka nodded in agreement.

"Hmm. I think we agree on that," she added.

The former World No. 1 further stated that while it was unfair that she got booed, she said she can't do anything to change that.

"I can't control the crowd. I'm not sure that a lot of people were understanding what's happening, so... It's probably been a lot of pimps -- Pimm's throughout the day," she said.

"Pimm's, yeah. What we agreed on: it wasn't fair. It is what it is. What can I do?" she added.

Svitolina, as many Ukrainian players have done over the past few months, did not shake hands with her opponent after the match. While Azarenka respected the 28-year-old's decision, she said the repeated conversation over trivial things like post-match handshakes was not necessary.

"She doesn't want to shake hands with Russian, Belarusian people. I respected her decision. What should I have done? Stayed and waited? Like, I mean, there's no thing that I could do that would have been right, so I just did what I thought was respectful towards her decision," she said.

"But this conversation about shaking hands is not a life-changing conversation. So if you guys want to keep talking about it, bring it up, make it a big deal, headlines, whatever it is, keep going," she added.

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"Obviously a lot of people supporting her, I would think that's part of it" - Victoria Azarenka believes fans' support played a role in Elena Svitolina's win

Victoria Azarenka at the 2023 Wimbledon Championships.

While Victoria Azarenka, like other Belarusian and Russian players, has faced the ire of crowds, Ukrainian players, on the other hand, have largely received warm reception and support in various tournaments across the tour.

Azarenka believes that while Elena Svitolina was the deserved victor in their Wimbledon clash on Sunday, having fans' overwhelming support did play a role in the outcome.

"I think she plays much more freely with, like, no pressure right now. Will it change later? You never know. I think it might. To play, like, free and obviously a lot of people supporting her, I don't know if it's advantage for her, but I would think that's part of it," she said.

"And, yeah, she was very solid today. It was really about flip of the coin I think. It was very, very close. I probably will look back and see what I can do in terms of adjustments. I know I can play better tennis, for sure, and move on," she added.

Svitolina overcame 19th seed Azarenka, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6[9] in two hours and 46 minutes to progress to the quarterfinals.