Reason why Sabalenka supported Lukashenka for so long unveiled
Aryna Sabalenka / newspix.pl
Tennis player Aryna Sabalenka for a long time did not deny her support for Aliaksandr Lukashenka, because at one time he helped her a lot, Yaroslav Pisarenko says in a new ChestnOK episode on Youtube.
According to him, Sabalenka signed an unprofitable contract with a Russian sports agent at a young age, before her athletic rise. The agent's name is being kept secret.
"But in any case he is not a public person, his name is unlikely to tell you anything. So this agent was the first to notice Aryna's talent and sign a contract with her. He became Sabalenka's sponsor. At his expense she went to competitions, he paid for her accommodation and so on. But she understood what kind of contract she had later, when she started to win big sums, but she never saw any real money," Pisarenko said.
The agent paid all of the tennis player's expenses, but took the lion's share of the prize money. And the contract was long-term. "In fact, she was faced with the prospect of earning practically nothing during her best years in sports," the journalist says.
Sabalenka could not solve this conflict by legal means, so she turned to Lukashenka.
"According to my information, Aliaksandr Shakutsin arranged the meeting between Lukashenka and Sabalenka. Shakutsin is a man from Lukashenka's inner circle, he is called 'Lukashenka's wallet'. He used to be the head of the Belarusian Tennis Federation and has always been very close to Belarusian tennis," Pisarenko says.
It turned out that Sabalenka's sports agent was involved in fraud (but not in Sabalenka's case): he was prosecuted in Russia for fraud. According to the journalist, the agent was offered a choice: either terminate the contract with Sabalenka, or go to Russia, where a trial awaited him.
"And that's where Sabalenka got rid of her shackles, but acquired others," Pisarenko says.
As Euroradio reported earlier, on June 6, after reaching the semifinals of the French Open tennis tournament, Aryna Sabalenka said at a press conference that she did not support the war and now did not support Aliaksandr Lukashenka. The Belarusian Tennis Federation has not yet commented on this statement.
