Wimbledon star makes decision on shaking rival's hand after calling for ban

Ukrainian Wimbledon star Elina Svitolina confirmed that she would shake the hand of her Moscow-born quarter-final opponent Elena Rybakina on Wednesday, after admitting that she tried to get all Russian players banned from the Championship.

Russian stars were prohibited from competing in the 2022 edition of the British Grand Slam, but have since been permitted to return under a neutral flag in the following two years, though many have not been met at the net by their Ukrainian counterparts to shake hands.

However, Svitolina claimed that after Rybakina switched her nationality to Kazakhstani, she would be willing to show her respect to the 2022 champion after their match.

"She changed her nationality, so it means she doesn't want to represent her original country, so it works," Svitolina said in her post-match press conference when asked if she would be prepared to shake hands with Rybakina, as she did at the French Open.

Svitolina struggled to hold back the tears during her on-court speech after defeating Xinyu Wang 6-2, 6-1, having heard that at least 19 Ukrainians were killed following a missile attack on a children's hospital in Kyiv.

And she admitted that she wanted Russian players banned from this year's competition. "Of course, I would prefer that," she replied when asked about the prospect of the blanked ban being reintroduced. "But it is how it is now. I cannot change. We tried every possible way to talk with many organisations.

"Yeah, for now I just want to raise awareness, to raise funds for people in need, to raise support for the kids through my foundation, through United24. So many ways we can help people and not only focus on the things we cannot control."

Rybakina made for an intriguing juxtaposition when she was presented the Venus Rosewater Dish by Princess Kate two years ago, as a Russian-born player, during the year of their ban from the tournament.

In June 2018, Rybakina acquired Kazakhstani citizenship and switched federations from Russia to Kazakhstan at the age of 19, and after reaching the final against Ons Jabeur pushed back on the idea that she was a Russian player who bypassed the blanket ban.

"I'm playing already for Kazakhstan for a long time," Rybakina said at the time. "I'm really happy representing Kazakhstan. They believed in me. There is no more question about how I feel. It's just already long time my journey as a Kazak player. I played Olympics, Fed Cup."

Rybakina was also supported by Dave Miley, tennis director at the Kazakhstan Federation, pointing out a similar situation involving a current British star.

“Lots of players are born in one country and represent another," he told The Sun. “Cameron Norrie chose to represent Great Britain, not New Zealand.

“She wanted to change country and the International Tennis Federation approved it. Elena’s been representing Kazakhstan for four years and has a Kazakhstani passport.”