Daria Kasatkina defends Marta Kostyuk from political criticism after Mirra Andreeva handshake controversy at French Open 

Daria Kasatkina stood up for Marta Kostyuk after the 2026 French Open semifinalist faced political backlash for refusing to shake hands with Mirra Andreeva. Kostyuk has been pretty vocal about opposing the war.

The Ukrainian tennis player has refused to shake hands with any Russian and Belarusian players on the tour since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Following her match against Andreeva, where the Ukrainian was defeated in straight sets, both players acknowledged each other from a distance, but did not exchange any pleasantries at the net.

One of the fans seemed to enquire about Kostyuk’s well-being after the faceoff, writing:

“How is Marta Kostyuk doing?”

To which Kasatkina replied:

“Judging by the last few months, everything’s great with her. And how about you?”

Kasatkina’s reply did not sit well with a fan, who expressed surprise that the Russian-Australian tennis player chose to support Kostyuk rather than Andreeva. The fan argued that the finalist was too young when the war began and had no influence on it, adding that Kostyuk’s stance of refusing handshakes has yielded no results towards the war.

Kasatkina questioned why Andreeva was brought into the discussion.

“What does Myrrh have to do with this at all?” she asked.

To which the fan clarified that the discussion was about Kostyuk’s actions on the tour. They specified that Andreeva was relevant to the discussion after Kostyuk’s repeated criticism of the Russian and Belarusian players for their silence on the war.

“In the original post, it was about her constant statements directed at Russian players and their “silence” regarding the war. Among these players is Mirra, and personally, I don’t understand the very call for them all to speak out, and especially those who have no influence whatsoever.”

Kasatkina then took a jab at the fan, clarifying that her reply wasn’t intended as a political statement.

“This post carried no political message whatsoever. I just couldn’t pass by an idiotic comment from a “sports journalist” directed at a female athlete.”

Marta Kostyuk refused to shake hands with Andreeva after her win over the 19-year-old at the Madrid Open.

Advertisement

Marta Kostyuk opens up on why she decided to shake hands with Daria Kasatkina

While Marta Kostyuk has made her position clear about not shaking hands with any Russian and Belarusian players, she stated that she would be fulfilling the customary ritual with Daria Kasatkina because the latter criticized the war openly.

“The only person I shake hands with is Daria Kasatkina because she didn’t just change her passport, but also openly said she doesn’t support the war and all of that stuff. That’s why me and other girls made the decision to shake hands with her, purely out of respect.”

” In this case, I mean there have been multiple players who have changed their nationality, but none of them have ever voiced anything against war or you know, anything to support Ukraine. So, whatever, for me it doesn’t change,” Kostyuk said. (via tennisworldusa.org)

Kasatkina changed her nationality from Russian to Australian in 2025.