Ukrainian player in tears at French Open after Russian missiles narrowly miss parents’ home
Sonia Twigg at Roland Garros - The Telegraph
Marta Kostyuk cries after first-round victory and shows a photo of the damage in Kyiv on her phone
Ukrainian tennis player Marta Kostyuk burst into tears after winning her first-round match at the French Open and said a Russian missile narrowly missed her parents’ house.
Kostyuk showed a photo of the damage on her phone at a press conference, pointing out her parents’ house among the smoke and fires engulfing a nearby apartment complex.
“Most of the morning I felt sick just for the thought that if it was 100 metres closer, I probably wouldn’t have a mum and a sister today,” Kostyuk said.
“It was really difficult to just process it so quick and also go out and play. That’s why I’m also very happy that I played [the] first match, because I don’t know what would be the outcome if I played last, for example."
“It’s tough, but I’m very proud of myself today, of how we all handled it, and, you know, happy to be in the second round and that everyone is alive.”
All throughout her 6-2, 6-3 win over Russian-born Oksana Selekhmeteva, Kostyuk’s mind would return back to the near miss on her family’s home in Kyiv, on a night of bombing where 90 missiles and 600 drones killed four and injured around 100 across the country.
Her mother, sister and great aunt were at the residence in Ukraine’s capital city, on one of the most difficult days for Kostyuk since the war began in 2024.
“It was just the closest that it has ever been to my house, and this is what probably makes it the most emotional,” she said.
“There are obviously, as I said, there are better days, worse days, but yeah, this one was, I would say top-three worst ones, for sure.”
Although she had not been able to talk to her family on the phone at the time of the press conference, she had been in contact via text with her friends and family who are trying to get some sleep after a restless night.
When asked whether the tour had forgotten about the war in the years since it started, Kostyuk, who has continued to use her platform to raise awareness for the ongoing situation in Ukraine, said: “I’m still trying to do things that I can do, and do what I can to influence, and I use my platform, I use my speeches or whenever I have a moment to remind [people] about it, to remind of the horror of, you know, everyday lives of people.”
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