{"id":6153,"date":"2024-03-21T22:46:55","date_gmt":"2024-03-21T22:46:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/21\/belarusian-star-opts-out-of-french-open-press-conference-saying-she-did-not-feel-safe-at-last-press-conference-cnn\/"},"modified":"2024-03-21T22:46:55","modified_gmt":"2024-03-21T22:46:55","slug":"belarusian-star-opts-out-of-french-open-press-conference-saying-she-did-not-feel-safe-at-last-press-conference-cnn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/21\/belarusian-star-opts-out-of-french-open-press-conference-saying-she-did-not-feel-safe-at-last-press-conference-cnn\/","title":{"rendered":"Belarusian star opts out of French Open press conference, saying she \u2018did not feel safe\u2019 at last press conference | CNN"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Belarusian<\/div>\n
\n

\n
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\n CNN<\/span>
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0
\n <\/cite>\n<\/p>\n

\n World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka<\/a> did not participate in a customary post-match press conference after her third-round win at the French Open<\/a> on Friday, saying she didn\u2019t feel safe when participating in a press conference held earlier this week.\n <\/p>\n

\n On Wednesday, after winning in the second round of the tournament, the Belarusian<\/a> had been repeatedly asked in a press conference to comment on the war in Ukraine and Belarus\u2019 role, but she repeatedly declined to do so. This continued until the moderator halted the line of questioning.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cAfter my match I spoke with the media like I normally do,\u201d Sabalenka said Friday. \u201cI know they still expect some questions that are more about the politics and not so much about my tennis.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cFor many months now I have answered these questions at tournaments and been very clear in my feelings and my thoughts.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThese questions do not bother me after my matches. I know that I have to provide answers to the media on things not related to my tennis or my matches, but on Wednesday I did not feel safe in press conference.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI should be able to feel safe when I do interviews with the journalists after my matches. For my own mental health and well-being, I have decided to take myself out of this situation today, and the tournament has supported me in this decision.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt hasn\u2019t been an easy few days, and now my focus is continue to play well here in Paris.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Instead of doing a press conference Friday, Sabalenka\u2019s comments are from an interview released by tournament organizers at Roland Garros in Paris, according to Reuters. Normally, press conferences by players are required.\n <\/p>\n

\n Reuters also reported that French Open organizers said that they want to \u201cprotect\u201d Sabalenka and that whether she attends other post-match press conferences will be her decision.\n <\/p>\n

\n CNN has reached out to the French Tennis Federation, the organizers of the French Open, for comment.\n <\/p>\n

\n In 2021, Naomi Osaka <\/a>of Japan sparked headlines and debate when she had announced she wouldn\u2019t participate in press conferences during the French Open, citing her mental health. She later withdrew during the tournament, before her second-round match.\n <\/p>\n

\n Sabalenka has already fielded some difficult questions in press conferences at Roland Garros, including from one reporter who accused her of \u201ctwisting it as if Ukrainians hate you\u201d and \u201cavoiding\u201d questions asking her to condemn the war, with Belarus being used as a key staging ground for Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine.\n <\/p>\n

\n Sabalenka said in March that she struggled to understand the \u201chate\u201d she encountered in the locker room amid strained relations between some players following Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cAbout the war situation, I said it many, many times, nobody in this world \u2013 Russian athletes, Belarusian athletes \u2013 supports the war. Nobody. How can we support the war? Normal people will never support it,\u201d she said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Russian and Belarusian players are currently still competing on the tours as neutral athletes without their flag or country displayed.\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CNN \u00a0\u2014\u00a0 World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka did not participate in a customary post-match press conference after her third-round win at the French Open on Friday, saying she didn\u2019t feel safe when participating in a press conference held earlier this week. On Wednesday, after winning in the second round of the tournament, the Belarusian had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6154,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdn.cnn.com\/cnnnext\/dam\/assets\/230528101555-03-kostyuk-sabalenka-french-open-0528-hp-video.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[605],"tags":[9912,233,2544,3093,1228,1229,1230,3089,896,7823,8456,7371,753,699,700,39,9913,9914,8950,701,202,8444,5037,458,626,964,702,754,3092],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6153"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6153"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6155,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6153\/revisions\/6155"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}