Aryna Sabalenka has apologised for an angry on-court outburst during her three-set defeat by Ukraine's Elina Svitolina at the WTA Finals. Television footage appeared to show the Belarusian swearing during Friday's round-robin match, and some social media users interpreted her remarks as being directed at Svitolina or Ukrainians. The loss eliminated Sabalenka from the season-ending tournament.

In a social media post, Sabalenka said her comment was not directed at Svitolina. She said she had been frustrated by a small group of spectators who were aggressively cheering her mistakes and that she reacted emotionally in the moment. She acknowledged she should have handled her frustration differently, apologised to anyone she offended, and wished Svitolina all the best for the rest of the tournament.S2

The match carried added tension because Svitolina did not shake hands with Sabalenka afterwards, maintaining her policy of not doing so with Russian or Belarusian opponents since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow launched with Belarus as a staging ground. Asked about the apology, Svitolina called for mutual respect, acknowledging that fans' passions can run high. She said that in some of their past meetings there had been unkind comments directed at her in regard to the war.S2

Svitolina, the 2018 WTA Finals champion, beat Linda Noskova in her semi-final on Saturday and faces Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva in Sunday's final.S2