Ukrainian tennis player Marta Kostyuk has reiterated her stance on Russian and Belarusian players as the war in her homeland continues. Even since the conflict began almost three years ago, the 22-year-old has been vociferous about the situation and made her feelings known both on and off the court.

Kostyuk has repeatedly refused to shake hands with opponents from either country and was jeered at the in 2023 for snubbing .

She responded by saying crowd members should be "embarrassed" by their actions and has now spoken out again at the .

Kostyuk is through into the second round at Melbourne Park after beating Nao Hibino on Monday. Coming through 3-6 6-3 6-1. And in her post-match press conference, the world No.17 was asked if she would be continuing her refusal to shake hands down under.

"I will definitely say while the war is going on there is no way we'll be shaking hands with them," she replied. "I cannot say what is going to be after war, I cannot say. I will personally not shake their hands for the rest of my career. This is my opinion on this."

In 2022, tennis players from Russia and Belarus were banned from competing at and other UK tennis tournaments. The , but the Russian Olympic Committee continues to be suspended by the IOC.

In football, UEFA and FIFA have also barred the country from competing in European or international competitions. And Kostyuk said she was perplexed as to why tennis authorities weren't taking the same stance.

"For me nothing's changed really, I look at other sports like athletics for example and these athletes aren't there," she said. "I'm just questioning myself why they're in tennis? What's so different about it? Why are they so privileged to be here and compete?

"In my case I definitely didn't forget about the war. I didn't forget about it because my whole family is in Ukraine and they're in danger every single night and I was in Ukraine myself a couple of months ago, I woke up from explosions in the middle of the night."

Kostyuk reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open last year, her best performance at a Slam to date. And the handshake issue won't manifest itself in the second round, with her playing Germany's Jule Niemeier.

But she insisted she was happy to answer questions on her stance, adding: "My position hasn't changed, thank you for your question, because I think it should be reminded again."