Tennis star Victoria Azarenka has slammed journalists who kept asking her political questions about Russia after her match at the Australian Open, accusing them of “drag the players into it”.
At the Belarusian player’s recent press conference after her semi-final match, one journalist after another kept trying to get the professional tennis player to weigh in on the pro-Russian protests of the fans during the tournament, Fox News note.
“I don’t know what you want us to do about this,” Azarenka said. “How to talk about it? I don’t know what the goal is here, if we keep talking about it.
“These incidents that I think have nothing to do with the players, but somehow you keep dragging the players into it. So what is the goal here? » she added. “I think you should be asking this question, not me.”
WATCH:
Tennis star Victoria Azarenka is fed up with left-wing journalists asking her about Russia:
“Whatever answer I give you now, it will turn the way you want.”
– Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) January 31, 2023
Another reporter then tried to ask the same question about the pro-Russian protests, but in a different way, and Azarenka immediately retorted, saying that no answer she gave would make them stop.
“Whatever answer I’m going to give you now, it’s going to be turned in the direction you want to turn it,” the tennis star explained. “So, does it bother me?” What bothers me is that there are real things happening in the world. And I don’t know. Are you a politician? Are you? Do you cover politics?
The reporter replied that they were covering sports and the tennis player replied, “Yes, and I’m an athlete.” »
“And you’re asking me about things that maybe someone says are in my control, but I don’t believe it,” Azarenka shared. “So, I don’t know what you want me to say. And if it’s a provocative question, then, you know, you can tell the story however you want.
She was also asked for her thoughts on the “scrutiny surrounding Russian and Belarusian players” and whether it was “difficult” for her to “put all those things” out of her mind while playing, the outlet noted.
“The other players are impacted by what exactly are you asking? » the tennis star shared, and the reporter tried again, but was stopped.
“You’re here talking about it right now, so it’s obviously a topic you want to keep bringing up over and over again,” Victoria responded. “So I don’t know what you want me to say.”
Footage recently surfaced showing a tennis great Novak DjokovicSrdjan Djokovic’s father, apparently posing with fans waving Russian flags, The independent note. Djokovic’s father insisted he was accidentally involved in the pro-Russian protest.
