French Open player gets emotional after sharing news of missile attacks near parents’ house
Marta Kostyuk couldn’t hold back her tears during a heartfelt interview after winning her first match at the French Open.
The second big tennis tournament of the year is now happening, with the opening matches at Roland Garros starting on Sunday morning.
As expected, top players and world number ones Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka are favorites to win the singles titles. They both finished as runners-up last year to Carlos Alcaraz and Coco Gauff.
But before the big stars took the court, many other players had already won their opening matches, including Ukraine’s Kostyuk.
The 15th seed from Ukraine arrived in Paris in great shape, having won the Madrid Open recently. She beat Oksana Selekhmeteva 6-2, 6-3 in a strong match.
After the match, Selekhmeteva, who is Russian-born but recently switched to play for Spain, went to shake hands with Kostyuk, but she was ignored as Kostyuk instead shook hands with the umpire.
Marta then took a moment to herself, wiping tears into her towel before speaking to the crowd in an emotional interview. She shared that her parents’ neighborhood had been hit by missiles that morning.
“I’m really proud of myself today. It was one of the toughest matches of my career,” she said. “This morning, just 100 meters from my parents’ house, a missile destroyed a building. It was a very hard morning.”
“I didn’t know how this match would turn out or how I would handle it. I cried part of the morning. I don’t want to focus on myself today,” she added.
“I’m glad to be through to the second round, but all my thoughts and heart are with the people of Ukraine today. Thank you so much for your support. Slava Ukraine.”
The 23-year-old was then asked why she felt it was important to play after hearing such scary news. She said, “I think it’s important to keep going. My biggest example is the Ukrainian people.
“I woke up this morning and saw so many people living their lives and helping those in need. I knew many Ukrainian flags would be here today, and many friends from Ukraine came to support me. I’m very happy about that. There’s not much more I can say.”
Kostyuk will play against the winner of the match between Clara Burel and Katie Volynets on Wednesday.