Marta Kostyuk reveals why there is only one Russian tennis player she'll shake hands with

Marta Kostyuk will look to lift the 2026 Madrid Open trophy tomorrow as she qualified for the final of the competition after beating Anastasia Potapova in the previous round.

If Kostyuk were to win the Madrid Open this weekend, it would be the first WTA 1000 tournament that she will have won, with the Ukrainian also yet to win a Grand Slam, with her best singles performance coming in the 2024 Australian Open when she reached the quarter-final.

A victory is set to be a proud moment for the Ukrainian, and it may help kickstart her career in tennis, leading to further silverware, but first she must beat Mirra Andreeva, a Russian tennis player.

Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine serves against Anastasia Potapova of Austria (Getty Images)

This final pairing will have a political element to it, as the 23-year-old proud Ukrainian has made it clear previously that she would not shake hands with any Russian tennis player, and this was seen when she refused to do so with Potapova in the semi-final, as while she plays under the Austrian flag now, she used to do so under the Russian.

Now, 19-year-old Russian Andreeva is set to be her next opponent in the competition, and while she has made it clear she will not shake a Russian’s hand, it is expected she will follow through once again.

While it is believed that she would not shake the hand of any Russian, she has named the only individual from the Eastern European nation that she would shake hands with as an exception to her rule.

Speaking ahead of the Madrid Open final, she said: “The only person I shake hands with is Daria Kasatkina because she didn't just change her passport, but also openly said she doesn't support the war and all that. That's why me and other girls decided to shake her hand, simply out of respect.

Daria Kasatkina of Australia looks on against Daria Snigur of Ukraine during the Women’s Singles First Round match at Stadium 3 on day three of the Mutua Madrid Open (Getty Images)

“In this case there have been multiple players who have changed their nationality, but none of them ever voiced anything against war or, you know, anything to support Ukrainians, so for me that doesn’t change.”

Kasatkina is a tennis player from Tolyatti, Russia, who now resides in Melbourne, Australia, and announced she would change her representation to the Oceanian nation from March 2025, even getting citizenship in January 2026.

It was reported in the Guardian that this decision was driven largely by the criminalisation, censorship, and violence faced by the LGBTQ+ community in Russia.