- Incident during the women's doubles clash on Monday
- The Ukrainian star refused to shake his opponent's hand after
Tennis star Lyudmyla Kichenok claimed she was threatened on court during her women's doubles loss at the Australian Open on Monday, prompting her to refuse to shake the hand of her opponent, Kristina Mladenovic.
Kichenok looked visibly angry as she and teammate Chan Hoa-ching reached the net after match point and pointedly ignored Mladenovic as he held out his hand.
The Ukrainian launched her explosive accusation against the French star on Instagram on Wednesday night.
“I would like to clarify the situation that occurred in my AO third round match against Kristina Mladenovic,” he wrote.
'Publicly accused of bad sportsmanship. I would like to say my word.
'I received a very direct threat from my opponent during the match after accidentally hitting her with a tennis ball.
Lyudmyla Kichenok (pictured) claimed she was threatened during her Australian Open women's doubles third round loss on Monday.
The Ukrainian claims Kristina Mladenovic (pictured) threatened her after accidentally hitting her with a ball, despite her repeated apologies.
Kichenok (pictured) defended himself against accusations of poor sportsmanship in a pair of strongly worded posts on Instagram.
'The response to my numerous apologies was: “Be careful next time.”
'I do not consider an act of respect such as shaking hands at the end of the game with people who use verbal threats appropriate. Period.'
Kichenok then published another post describing the effects the alleged threats had on her, tagging the World Tennis Association, the official account of the Australian Open and host channel Channel Nine's Wide World of Sports.
Under the headings “Violation of sportsmanship”, “Psychological impact” and “Deterioration of the tennis community”, he wrote “threatening language creates a hostile environment.”
Kichenok also said that threats can “create fear, anxiety and stress” and “contribute to a negative atmosphere within the tennis community”, leading to potential new players being deterred from playing the sport.
Footage from the match shows Kichenok (left) refusing to shake Mladenovic's (right) hand after match point in Melbourne.
After the match, Mladenovic harshly criticized the behavior of Kichenok and Chan.
'If you want my real and honest opinion, I think the opponents woke me up because they were showing a lack of sportsmanship during my serve and I got very angry. I thought, 'Okay, this is how the game starts,'” he said.
'It woke me up and I was very calm with my partner and we fought together to find a solution. That was a trigger point for me.”
The Australian Open is now over for both women after Mladenovic, a six-time Grand Slam doubles champion, and Zhang fell to top seeds Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova in their quarterfinal clash on Wednesday, losing 6- 1, 7. 5.
Mladenovic had not made any public comments on Kichenok's allegations at the time of writing.
Kichenok, 32, is ranked third in the world in doubles, after winning her first WTA title with her sister in 2015.