WTA Match of the Year Honorable Mentions: Comebacks, marathons, anti-epics, and Sabalenka on the winning side

You better Czech yourself before you wreck yourself. That's the lesson that Barbara Zahlavova Strycova sought to teach Elina Svitolina when the two shook hands at the net following the latter's victory at the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. The 20-year-old Ukrainian, Svitolina, won 6-4, 6-1, but 28-year-old veteran Strycova, hailing from the Czech Republic, wasn't about to go gently into that good night. Witness their exchange here:

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GIF: The WTA Handshake of the Year

While both players appear hurried at the match's conclusion—one perhaps ready to scurry away in defeat, and the other glad to be rid of her—it's clear that Strycova found something to be desired in their traditional handshake. This was hardly the frosty stuff of, say, a Agnieszka Radwanska–Sabine Lisicki encounter, but Strycova clearly wanted to be given a fair shake. She wasn't letting go. And so she vigorously re-shook Svitolina's hand like Chris Christie and ultimately called it a day.

Thanks to @chaztopher [for the lead.]

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