Marta Kostyuk delivered an emotional message about the situation in Ukraine following her opening-round victory at the 2026 French Open amid the ongoing war with Russia.
Kostyuk has been in outstanding form recently, having captured the Madrid Open title after defeating Mirra Andreeva in the final. Following that triumph, the Ukrainian opted to skip the Italian Open in order to focus fully on Roland Garros.
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Marta Kostyuk opened her campaign in Paris against Oksana Selekhmeteva on Sunday, May 24, and secured a comfortable 6-2, 6-3 victory. However, the post-match moment turned deeply emotional as Kostyuk paid tribute to the people of Ukraine and revealed that a missile had struck just 100 meters away from her parents’ house earlier that morning. While speaking, the Ukrainian became overwhelmed with emotion and broke down in tears.
“I’m incredibly proud of myself today. I think it was one of the most difficult matches of my career. This morning, 100 meters from my parent’s house, the missile destroyed the building. It was a very difficult morning. I didn’t know how this match is gonna turn out for me. I didn’t know how I would handle it. I’ve been crying part of the morning.”
“I don’t wanna talk about myself today. I’m very pleased to be in the 2nd round, but all of my thoughts and all my heart goes to the people of Ukraine today. Thank you so much for coming out. Slava Ukraine,” she added.
Edited by Pritha Ghosh