"Disgusting to not shake hands with a 17-year-old" - Fans slam Elina Svitolina's behavior after Ukrainian's loss to Russian teen in Indian Wells QF

Elina Svitolina refused to shake 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva's hand following her loss to the young Russian in the quarterfinals of the 2025 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells on Thursday, March 13. Svitolina, a proud Ukrainian, has maintained her stance against all opponents hailing from Russia and Belarus since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began. Many fans though, lambasted her for keeping up with it considering Andreeva's age.

On Thursday, Andreeva registered a comprehensive 7-5, 6-3 victory against Svitolina to reach the semifinals of the WTA 1000 event. The Russian teen is riding a wave of success at the moment, having arrived at Indian Wells after her title triumph at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. In the Californian desert, Andreeva is yet to drop a set, and is slated to face WTA No. 2 and five-time Major winner Iga Swiatek next.

After the conclusion of the quarterfinal encounter, Elina Svitolina barely made eye contact with Mirra Andreeva, and walked straight to the chair umpire for a handshake. Andreeva also did the same and then began to take in the applause from the Indian Wells crowd.

Upon taking notice of the moment, several tennis fans on X (formerly Twitter) slammed Svitolina.

"How disgusting to not shake hand with a 17yr old," a fan wrote.

"And of course no class Svitolina crying and won’t handshake a Russian player when Mirra has nothing to do with any politics," commented another.

"Mirra dragged Svitolina ❤️❤️🔥🔥Can’t even shake hands with a kid 🤡," another chimed in.

Here are some more reactions from fans who were irked by the Ukrainian's post-match behavior towards Andreeva.

"I was very disappointed that Svitolina didn’t shake hand with Mirra. Makes me wonder. She should grow up," suggested one fan.

"The most mature woman won," opined another.

"As I already said Mirra can defeat this arrogant Ukrainian without any difficulty and she did," another added.

At the 2023 French Open, Svitolina had nearly broken her no-handshake resolution.

Elina Svitolina shared brief but heartwarming post-match moment with Russian at French Open 2023 despite ultimately not shaking hands

Elina Svitolina (Source: Getty)

Following Elina Svitolina's thrilling 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 third-round win over Anna Blinkova at the 2023 French Open, the Ukrainian turned emotional and walked up to the net before giving the Russian a warm thumbs-up. However, there was ultimately no shake of hands, a stance adopted by nearly all Ukrainian players when it comes to Russian and Belarusian opponents.

The brief but warm moment at the net between Svitolina and Blinkova drew a positive reaction from Serena Williams' ex-coach and former doubles No. 1 Rennae Stubbs, who wrote on social media:

"That moment showed me the humanity in this. Elina & Ukrainian players have taken this stance to not shake hands with Russian/Belorussian players and I get it but in my heart, I know Elina knows the kind of person Anna is and believe she wished she could have broken her stance 1 time."

Elina Svitolina's next competitive outing is expected to come at the 2025 Miami Open, which is set to begin immediately after the conclusion of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.