"I’m begging journalists to cease with the drivel and use their brains by reading the room" - Tennis fans slam journalist for hounding Elena Rybakina about her Russian connections after Wimbledon title
Kazakh tennis star Elena Rybakina triumphed at Wimbledon this year by winning the women's event. She beat Ons Jabeur in the final of the showpiece event in three sets.
However, the questions aimed at the World No. 23 in her press conference had very little to do with her triumph or performance. Russian-born Rybakina was questioned about the war between Russia and Ukraine, and Russian President Vladmir Putin's actions.
"Sorry my English isn't the greatest so I didn't understand the second part of the question. But from my side I can only say, I'm representing Kazakhstan and I didn't choose where I was born. People believed in me, Kazakhstan supported me so much. Even today, I heard so many support and I saw the flags so and I don't know how to answer all this question," Rybakina said.
Tennis fans were left infuriated by the journalist's questioning as they believed this was not the time or the place for such questions, and they took to Twitter to make their displeasure known.
One fan pointed out that Chris Evert was never asked questions about America's war with Vietnam when she reigned supreme in the sport.
"Wait … I can’t remember - Did they ask Chrissie if she supportrd the war in Viet Nam?" a fan asked.
@Some1NamedRyan Wait … I can’t remember - Did they ask Chrissie if she supportrd the war in Viet Nam?
Elena Rybakina wins the biggest tournament and is having the best day of her life
Reporter: Do you condemn the war and Putin's actions? https://t.co/ja7R3UdFsl
I don't remember the Williams, Isner, Roddick, Murray, Monfils, Mladenovic, etc being asked about the invasions of their respective countries twitter.com/Some1NamedRyan…
🥰@Some1NamedRyan They are supposed to be SPORTS journalists, not political commentators. She’s a gracious, intelligent, and hardworking young woman who just won a Slam and will surely win many more big tournaments. 🥰❤️🥰
Well handled answer to a pathetic question twitter.com/Some1NamedRyan…
@Some1NamedRyan 90% of TT would be better journalists than the current ones
Everyday we sink lower twitter.com/Some1NamedRyan…
Get this plebs name and out him for being such an absolute w⚓️
He shouldn’t be let anywhere near a sportsperson or event moving forward. Scum. twitter.com/some1namedryan…
Another fan spoke about how Rybakina has been dealing with such questions all tournament long.
"She’s been dealing with this nonstop! At this rate she should just pre-record her response because this won’t be last time she hears this type of question - unfortunately," a user tweeted.
@Some1NamedRyan She’s been dealing with this nonstop! At this rate she should just pre-record her response because this won’t be last time she hears this type of question - unfortunately.
I’m begging “ journalists “ to cease with the drivel and use their brains ( if they have them at this point ) by reading the room. LITERALLY. twitter.com/some1namedryan…
Every year the Wimbledon press room is full of 🤡 by far the worst press room of a slam twitter.com/some1namedryan…
Asking a 23 year old Kazakh about the actions of the leader of a different country because "she has a RUSHUN name!1!1" really sums up the standard of British tabloid journalists and their 'journalism' twitter.com/Some1NamedRyan…
@Some1NamedRyan Should not be asking her these potentially dangerous questions. If she and her family live in Russia and publicly condemn Putin things could become very difficult for them. Well done Elena for pretending not to understand.
this is disgusting. they're literally the ones pushing russian propaganda that they dont wanna push with questions like these. why is such stuff even being mentioned!? twitter.com/Some1NamedRyan…
nah stop trying to target ppl and build a bad media narrative around them this has got to stop twitter.com/Some1NamedRyan…
ridiculous. you never had american or british athletes being asked to condemn the actions of their country after the iraqi and afghan invasions. funny how they banned russian players and a russian still won 😭😭 twitter.com/some1namedryan…
Elena Rybakina's road to Wimbledon triumph
Elena Rybakina emerged victorious at SW19 this year as the Kazakhstan national beat Ons Jabeur in the final in three sets. She dropped just two sets in the entire tournament, which is a testament to her dominance at the grass Slam this year.
En route to the final, Rybakina beat former Wimbledon champion Simona Halep in the semifinals in straight sets. It was a thoroughly power-packed performance in a match between two players with bludgeoning groundstrokes.
Elena Rybakina rises to the occasion ✨
In its centenary year, Centre Court crowns a new Ladies’ Singles champion
#Wimbledon | #CentreCourt100 https://t.co/Wabfr0GTdS
Elena Rybakina, whose powerful serve was her biggest weapon at SW19, also beat the likes of Bianca Andreescu, Ajla Tomljanovic, Coco Vandeweghe, Qinwen Zheng and Petra Martic at SW19 this year.