Women’s tennis has an Alexander Lukashenko problem.

The Belarusian autocrat’s ongoing, public celebration of compatriot Aryna Sabalenka — the world No. 1 — has sparked fury in Kyiv, ahead of her crucial Australian Open semifinal against Ukrainian Elina Svitolina.

“No matter how much international sports officials and global sports bureaucrats insist that sport is ‘outside politics,’ for regimes like those of Lukashenko and Putin this has never been true,” Heorhii Tykhyi, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s foreign ministry, told POLITICO. “For them, sport is not merely political — it is one of the key instruments of state policy, and more specifically, of state propaganda, including the propaganda of war.”

The Ukrainian criticism has put Sabalenka — winner of four grand slams, the most prestigious tournaments on the tennis calendar — and her relationship with the Lukashenko regime back in the spotlight. Belarus, like its close ally Russia, has used sports as a soft power asset on the world stage, even as the West ostracizes Minsk over its support for Moscow’s all-out war on Ukraine.

Sabalenka, whose visibility as the world’s best female tennis player has made her a central figure in Belarusian propaganda, faces Svitolina in Melbourne on Thursday morning, in a match that has added geopolitical significance while Russia’s full-scale invasion rages on.

A representative for Sabalenka did not respond to POLITICO’s request for comment about the nature of her relationship with authorities in Minsk. At a press conference following a previous match with Svitolina at the French Open in 2023, Sabalenka told POLITICO that she did not support Lukashenko “right now” or Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“To those who argue otherwise or repeat the mantra that ‘sport is outside politics,’ I would like to remind them: sport may be outside politics, but it is certainly not outside the war being waged in Europe today,” Tykhyi, the Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesperson, said. “A war that has already killed or injured more than 600 Ukrainian athletes or coaches. Hundreds of Ukrainian sports facilities have been destroyed or damaged, forcing athletes to train under constant threat and in conditions of severe infrastructural deprivation.”

“And yet, despite all of this, Ukrainian athletes continue to demonstrate extraordinary resilience and strength of spirit, preparing for and competing in international events even under these circumstances,” the spokesperson added.

Sabalenka, who was born in Minsk and now resides in Miami, has links to the Belarusian authorities that date back years.  

She met Lukashenko in 2017, shortly after beginning her rise to the top of world tennis. In 2020, during massive anti-government protests over a rigged national election, she signed a pro-Lukashenko letter and — unlike other athletes who later retracted their endorsement — never withdrew her signature.

That year, with thousands of protesters jailed and many facing torture at the hands of Belarusian authorities, she celebrated the New Year with Lukashenko, drawing howls of protest from Belarusian dissidents.

After Sabalenka’s victory over Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk in Brisbane earlier this month, Lukashenko’s official website congratulated her on the win, as it did after she won in Miami and New York last year. Lukashenko also mentioned her in his address to the Belarusian People and the National Assembly in 2023.

She has even become a tangential character in the U.S. government’s ongoing diplomatic overtures to Minsk. In 2025, U.S. envoy John Coale handed Lukashenko a letter from President Donald Trump acknowledging Sabalenka’s “tremendous win at the US Open” and that she “represents the very best of your country.”

Coupled with her new role as an ambassador for iconic fashion house Gucci — which posted “Welcome to the Gucci family, Aryna” in its promotional material on social media — and worldwide popularity with tennis fans, Sabalenka is giving heartburn to Ukraine’s sports establishment.

Earlier this month, Ukrainian player Oleksandra Oliynykova criticized the global community for celebrating Sabalenka.

“A supporter of a bloody dictator becomes an ambassador for a top brand. What is wrong with this world?” she asked.