French Open star breaks down after revealing missile attacks near parents' home
Marta Kostyuk couldn't hold back the tears during an emotional interview following her win in the opening match at the French Open.
The second tennis major of the year is now underway as the opening matches of the French Open at Roland Garros started on Sunday morning.
Unsurprisingly, top seeds and world number ones Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka are the favourite to win the singles titles, having each finished runner-up last year to Carlos Alcaraz and Coco Gauff respectively.
However, before the top seeds get underway, many other players have already won their opening match at the major, including Ukraine's Kostyuk.
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The Ukrainian 15th seed arrived in Paris in good form having won the Madrid Open and made short work of Oksana Selekhmeteva 6-2 6-3.
Following the match, Russian-born Selekhmeteva, who recently switched nationalities to Spain, went to shake hands with her opponent but was ignored as Kostyuk instead shook hands with the umpire.
The Ukrainian then took a moment to herself and appeared to start crying into her towel before getting up to address the Paris crowd in an emotional interview in which she revealed her parents neighbourhood had been targeted by missiles.
“I’m incredibly proud of myself today. I think it was one of the most difficult matches of my career," she said.
"This morning, 100 meters from my parents’ 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 for part of the morning. I don’t want to talk about myself today," she added.
"I’m very pleased to be in the second 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.”
The 23-year-old was then asked why she felt that it was important to play after the frightening news, to which she replied: “Because I think it’s important to keep going. My biggest example is Ukrainian people.
“I woke up in the morning today and I looked at all these people who woke up and kept living their lives, kept helping people who are in need.
"I knew a lot of Ukrainian flags would be here today, and a lot of Ukrainian people would come out and support. My friends from Ukraine came as well. Very happy to have them here. Not much I can say.”
Kostyuk will face the winner of the match between Clara Burel and Katie Volynets on Wednesday.
Topics: Tennis
Ben McCrum