Elena Rybakina appeared to nudge a trophy presenter’s hand away from her body during an awkward moment at Indian Wells.
The Australian Open champ and mixed doubles partner Taylor Fritz won the Eisenhower Cup exhibition event on Thursday morning (AEDT) on the eve of the prestigious California tournament.
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Fritz and Rybakina made it back-to-back victories at the exhibition event after defeating Americans Amanda Anisimova and Learner Tien in the final.
During the post match festivities, Fritz and Rybakina were awarded a cheque for $200,000 and were presented with individual victors trophies.
You can watch the incident in the video player above.
After receiving their prizes, the pair posed for photos with tournament sponsors in front of the cameras.
During the photo shoot, David Renker, Senior Vice Present of Eisenhower Health, was seen putting his arm behind Rybakina.
The Kazakhstani champ was seen politely nudging Renker’s hand away as the cameras kept rolling.
After Rybakina flashed a quick look in his direction, Renker took a step backwards at the same time another trophy presenter also stepped back from his position alongside Fritz.
The incident has sparked a social media storm with footage spreading across cyberspace.
A clip on Reddit caused a storm of comments while one video shared on X went viral before it was taken down.
It was the second trophy ceremony moment involving Rybakina this year to spark debate after her controversial coach Stefano Vukov was bizarrely thrust into the spotlight following the Australian Open.
Rybakina was all smiles after the ceremony and celebrated the victory with a post on Instagram of herself and Fritz holding their trophies aloft.
“I’m super happy. Hopefully I can do the same thing in singles,” Rybakina said afterwards.
She will begin her campaign at tennis’ so-called “fifth grand slam” in the Californian desert on Saturday.
All the big names are playing the ATP and WTA Masters 1000 tournament, including Aryna Sabalenka, Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
Spain’s Alcaraz, 22, made history last month when he lifted the Australian Open title to become the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam.
He won the Qatar Open to arrive Stateside riding a 12-match winning streak to start the year.
The top seed could face a tricky second-round opener against either former world number three Grigor Dimitrov or in-form left-hander Terence Atmane, with third-seeded Djokovic also looming in his half of the draw.
Sinner will play either Australian James Duckworth or Czech qualifier Dalibor Svrcina, who faced off Thursday as first-round action got underway.
Women’s world number one Sabalenka is also chasing a first Indian Wells title, having fallen in last year’s final to Russian teen Mirra Andreeva and in 2023 to Rybakina — who beat Sabalenka in the Australian Open final to claim a second Grand Slam crown.
Sabalenka, back in action for the first time since that Australian Open disappointment, will open her campaign against either Japanese qualifier Himeno Sakatsume or US wild card Alycia Parks, with Japanese star Naomi Osaka and hard-hitting American Anisimova in her quarter.
— with AFP