With her family still in Ukraine, Marta Kostyuk has hit out at both the governing bodies of tennis and Russian players over their reaction to the ongoing crises.
The 19-year-old spoke passionately about the situation in her home country after her visibly emotional 6-7(7), 7-6(6), 7-5 win over Belgium’s Maryna Zanevska in the first round at Indian Wells. Zanevska was born in Odessa before switching nationalities in 2016. The two had a long hug following the conclusion of their match which lasted more than three hours. A significant win for Kostyuk in one way after she pondered not playing in Indian Wells this year due to the situation back home.
“Honestly, in the current mental state that I’m in, it was very tough to go on court,” AFP quoted Kostyuk as saying. “I didn’t know what to expect from myself, I didn’t know what to expect from my body. When I woke up this morning I thought, ‘I’m not going to do it, I can’t win it.”
“I just tried to find a way. She was playing amazing, amazing tennis. My main goal was to fight and I fought. It was a tough comeback. … Everyone is fighting how they fight. My job is playing tennis and this is the biggest way I can help in the current situation.”
It is clear that the world No.54 is far from happy about how the sport has managed their response to the crises. In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the International Olympic Committee recommended that Russian and Belarusian athletes should be prevented from competing in international events. A move which has been taken by some sports but not all of them.
In a joint-decision by the seven governing bodies of tennis, players from those two countries must now compete as neutral athletes and their country’s flag have been removed. Russia and Belarus have also been suspended from team competition by the ITF with the Kremlin Cup also being suspended. However, Kostyuk believes tougher action should have been taken specifically against the Russian players.
“It hurts me. It just hurts me. It hurts me every time I come on site. It hurts me seeing all these players. I can’t say anything about Belarusian players because they’re really not a part of it. They know they’re victims in this. All of them, they are trying to be nice,” she said.
“But seeing the players on site really hurts me, and seeing the only problem they have is not being able to transfer the money and stuff… that’s what they’re talking about. This is unacceptable for me.”
Kostyuk said instead of worrying about money transfers, her mornings consist of “reading news, of checking on the family, if they’re ok, if they’re alive.”
Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev have both previously called for peace in the region. Meanwhile, during her first round match Anna Kalinskaya wore trainers with the phrase ‘no war’ written on them.
However, Kostyuk argues that these comments are too vague and there has been no specific condemnation of Russia by their players. In the country, officials described their actions as a ‘special military operation.’ In fact a report on March 2nd claims that Russia’s internet censor board, Roskomnadzor, issued a statement saying websites who describe the conflict as an “invasion”, “attack” or “declaration of war” face being blocked. The United Nations has confirmed that more than 12,000 people have been arrested in the country for taking part in anti-war protests.
“What’s going on is not a secret. You don’t have to be into politics to know what’s going on, to know who invaded who, who is bombing who. It’s very simple and easy and you cannot be neutral in this.” Kostyuk continued, “for me, ‘no war’ means a lot of things. You know we can stop the war by giving up. […] For me, these statements have no meaning. It has no sense, it has no substance in it. ‘No war’ for me means for Ukraine to give up […] We fight and we fight, and these ‘no war’ statements hurt me. They hurt me because they have no substance.”
Kostyuk will play Elise Mertens in the second round at Indian Wells.
