Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka says she won’t discuss the Ukraine war while at Wimbledon

Before Aryna Sabalenka heard any questions from reporters at her pre-Wimbledon media session Saturday, she announced that she was willing to talk only about her sport — and not the war in Ukraine that became a contentious topic for the Belarusian during the last Grand Slam event.

“I would like to say I’m not going to talk about politics. I’m here to talk about tennis only. Please respect that,” Sabalenka told reporters. “If you have any kind of political questions, you can ask the WTA or the tournament. They can send you the transcript of my answers from the previous tournaments.”

Sabalenka is seeded No. 2 at the All England Club and considered among the main contenders for the title. She won the Australian Open in January, then reached the semifinals at the French Open in June — when she skipped two news conferences after saying queries about the war and Belarus’ role in helping Russia attack Ukraine made her uncomfortable.

When she was asked Saturday whether she was pressured in some way to make that opening statement, Sabalenka said: “It’s my personal decision.”

Sabalenka made it to the semifinals at Wimbledon in 2021. She was not allowed to compete at the grass-court major a year ago, when all players from Russia and Belarus were banned because of the invasion of Ukraine that began in February 2022.

She said she didn’t keep tabs on the action from the All England Club on TV last year.

“I felt so bad,” Sabalenka said, “and I just couldn’t watch it.”