Of all the compelling moments over the past two weeks at this French Open, one of the hardest to look away from was not on the tennis court but in the interview room.

Aryna Sabalenka may have reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros but over the past fortnight, the questions directed at her have been as much about the war between Ukraine and Russia as they have about anything she has accomplished on court.

Sabalenka may be the second best female player in the world but she is also, perhaps even more pertinently at this time, Belarusian.

With Belarus being Russia’s primary ally in its war against Ukraine, Sabalenka, as has every Russian and Belarusian player over the past year, been on the receiving end of questions about their stance on the war.

Most of the probing has been relatively gentle. But things went up a notch last week. And quite considerably, leading to the question of how involved athletes should be expected to become in a situation as serious as the Ukraine-Russian war.

Following her third-round victory against Russia’s Kamilla Rakhimova, Sabalenka was questioned as fiercely as any athlete has been over the past year about the situation in Ukraine.

Much of the questioning, which came from a Ukrainian journalist, likely stemmed from the fact that Sabalenka is a well-known backer of Belarus’ president Alexander Lukashenko, a Vladimir Putin ally and supporter of the war

Sabalenka, who is the Australian Open champion, was asked by the reporter to condemn Belarus’ role in supporting Russia’s invasion as well as whether she still personally supports Lukashenko.

What followed was as tense as a post-match press conference can get.

Sabalenka was clearly annoyed, swatting the questions away with an impatient: “I’ve got no comments to you.”

The Ukrainian journalist asked a second question, received another terse reply and when she tried to ask a third, the press conference moderator stepped in before Sabalenka added: “You’ve got enough answers from me, I’ve got no comments to you.”

The Belarusian could not have come out of the exchange worse.

What happened next, though, is what has ignited the debate of just how involved athletes should be expected to become in a non-sporting topic that is far bigger than their sport and that they have no control over.

In the match following this tense exchange, Sabalenka was expected to fulfil her press obligations as normal. However, instead, the Belarusian released answers to a few questions that were asked in secret, with none of the press pack having their usual access.

Sabalenka said she felt “unsafe” in her previous press conference.

So, at what point does questioning from a journalist cross the line from being part of the job for an elite athlete into distasteful or, worse, unacceptable territory?

It is extremely difficult ground to navigate.

Clearly, Sabalenka, her Belarusian compatriots and fellow Russian players don’t have any hand in the war.

Indeed, Sabalenka has said she is against the war, although she has never gone as far as this Ukrainian journalist wanted her to by condemning Lukashenko.

I was surprised by how under prepared Sabalenka was for these questions. As the tournament went on, she clearly had worked out what to say to deflect such a line of questioning and by the latter stages, was finally declaring she didn’t support the war.

“I don’t want my country to be in any conflict, I don’t support the war, meaning I don’t support Lukashenko,” she said after her quarter-final.

There was, however, a sense that Sabalenka had been forced into this denouncement rather than expressing her true feelings.

But is it fair to expect athletes to have strong views on a subject they are, most likely, unqualified to talk about?

It is probably unjustified to ask athletes about a topic that is as foreign to them as space travel.

But equally, they are in a privileged position and have a platform that few have so to expect them to use it productively is reasonable.

Sabalenka’s words and actions over the past two weeks have shown that athletes’ words do matter.

Sportspeople may not be able to stop wars with their words but they do hold power. And so, however much Sabalenka dislikes being questioned over issues far more serious than tennis, it should keep happening.

AND ANOTHER THING

The news that this summer’s highest-profile athletics meet in this country, the London Diamond League, will go ahead is obviously welcome.

Last month it was revealed it was under threat due to UK Athletics’ lack of finances but a £150,000 injection of cash from UK Sport has ensured it will go ahead as planned.

While, in the short term, this is clearly good news, the bigger picture remains worrying. It is not a long-term solution for athletics’ governing body to rely on hand-outs to stage what should be the jewel in the crown of elite athletics.

UK Athletics must act to raise the profile of their sport, and quickly.

Something has gone badly wrong that despite having a raft of world-class athletes, financial support remains sorely lacking.

Athletics will never regain the status it enjoyed in its heyday in the 1980s but some serious action needs to be taken to ensure the sport’s fall from grace is not so drastic that it ends up in an unrecoverable position.