Kostyuk dedicates French Open win to Ukraine after strikes 100 metres from parents' home
Ukrainian tennis player Marta Kostyuk addressed a Russian missile strike that hit 100 metres from her parents' Kyiv home in a press conference after her French Open first-round victory. Speaking to BBC Sport, the 21-year-old said: 'when I saw the messages coming through online during the match, I couldn't breathe.' She dedicated her win to civilians in Ukraine's war-affected areas.
Kostyuk has emerged as the most visible of the Ukrainian athletes at Roland Garros consistently speaking publicly about the war's effects. Since 2022, Ukrainian tennis players have refused post-match handshakes with Russian and Belarusian opponents as a way of marking their position against the war — a protocol Kostyuk has repeatedly cited in her press appearances. BBC Sport's correspondent Tom Bilyeu, reporting from the venue, described the atmosphere in the press conference as 'unusually quiet and intense' compared with typical tennis briefings.
Kostyuk said her family was home on the night of the strike but 'thankfully unharmed.' The strike, according to a joint statement by Ukraine's Air Force and Kyiv authorities, was part of a wider Russian long-range air-strike pattern that night and affected the wider district where the player's parents live. Mykola Kalashnyk, head of the Kyiv Region Military Administration, had said the attack killed four people and sent 28 wounded to hospital.
The Ukrainian Tennis Federation said in a social-media statement that Kostyuk's 'victory under extremely difficult conditions carries psychological meaning for the country.' The federation also said that fellow Ukrainian players at Roland Garros, Elina Svitolina, Dayana Yastremska and Lesia Tsurenko, came to support Kostyuk during her press conference.
Kostyuk's clay-court form follows a strong trajectory through the season. She reached the fourth round in Madrid, losing to former world number one Iga Świątek; in Rome she went three sets against Aryna Sabalenka in the quarter-finals. BBC Sport's tennis analysts described her Roland Garros showing as 'a mature year of ball control.' Now ranked 18th in the world, Kostyuk said her end-of-season target is the top ten.
The Fédération Française de Tennis (FFT) chose not to share the segments of the press conference featuring Kostyuk's remarks on Ukraine across the tournament's official platforms. BBC Sport editor Liz Roscher reported that this followed the FFT's internal policy of keeping political content off tournament channels. Kostyuk's remarks were, however, shared on the social channels of the ITF and the WTA.
Kostyuk plays China's Wang Xinyu in the second round. The match will take place on Court Suzanne-Lenglen on Tuesday at roughly 13:00 local time. BBC Sport notes that Kostyuk's clay-court statistics compare favourably with Wang's (64 per cent win rate against Wang's 51 per cent) and predicts a two-hour contest.
The performances of Ukrainian players at Roland Garros have been the subject of close monitoring since the war began in 2022. WTA data shows that across the past three seasons, Ukrainian women have advanced past the first three rounds of Grand Slam tournaments at an average rate of 23 per cent — five points below the Russian women's average but eight points above Ukraine's pre-2021 average. Analysts have written that the war has acted as a meaningful 'reserve-strength' factor in player psychology.
Kostyuk works with experienced Spanish coach Sergio Casal; she began the season's physical-preparation programme with American coach Pat Etcheberry. BBC Sport's tennis correspondent Russell Fuller reports that Kostyuk's first Grand Slam quarter-final is a strong probability in the second half of the season, between Wimbledon and the US Open.
For Ukraine's national team, Kostyuk has confirmed her participation in the Billie Jean King Cup play-offs against Poland in September. The Ukrainian player's career trajectory has become a symbolic identity for a generation of young athletes continuing to compete under wartime conditions. BBC Sport reports that Kostyuk's personal decision on whether her family will continue to live in Kyiv or settle temporarily in Germany is expected to be clarified in the coming weeks.