PARIS :The fickle Paris crowd made themselves heard on the opening day of the French Open as they booed when Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk refused to shake hands after her first-round defeat by Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus on Sunday.Stefanos Tsitsipas, the runner-up in Paris in 2021, was dragged into a dogfight by Cz
PARIS :The fickle Paris crowd made themselves heard on the opening day of the French Open as they booed when Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk refused to shake hands after her first-round defeat by Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus on Sunday.
Sabalenka, who initially thought that the boos were for her, theatrically bowed to supporters before thanking them for their backing and later said she understood Kostyuk's choice to skip the customary gesture. "I said to myself there's no chance this is going to a fifth set," said Tsitsipas."Jiri was a difficult obstacle. He gave me a hard time and I'm happy I overcame it in such a fashion."
After a record 50,000 people - compared to 29,000 last year - attended the qualifying event this week, Sabalenka and Kostyuk opened proceedings on centre court as the fashionably late fans queued to get their seats.
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