Marta Kostyuk has claimed it is “very exhausting to live in this state” as the Russian invasion of Ukraine approaches a second anniversary.
And the world No.37 hopes her “fighting spirit” to reach the Australian Open quarter-finals has brought “joy and happiness” to her embattled homeland.
Speaking about texts from friends back in Kiev, Kostyuk revealed: ‘They said: ‘We were looking between your score and where the missiles are flying’.”
Kostyuk, 21, lost a marathon last eight clash with world No.4 Coco Gauff 7-6 6-7 6-2 victory after three hours and eight minutes – the third longest women’s match of the tournament.
But after going out, she opened up on the ongoing war in Ukraine – and how she wanted to raise morale back home.
“I think if someone would have told us one month after the war began that this would last for two years, I think everyone would just die, like, literally,” Kostyuk said.
“(They would) Just say; ‘No, never, we will never withstand it, we will never survive this for two years’.
“Time goes by, and things happen. Yeah, it’s very exhausting to live in this state. Sport has always brought a lot of joy and happiness for people regardless of times. I don’t think it changed. I think it’s the same.
“I got a lot of messages, a lot of support from people who have been telling me, Wow, what a great tournament, such emotions, what a fight, what fighting spirit, you know, was so good to watch, like, we enjoy it so much.
“Obviously it’s good for people not to just change perspective but to look at something different rather than other than missile shellings.
“So hopefully, I really hope that Ukrainian sport will grow even in these circumstances. It’s incredibly difficult, but everyone is hanging very tight. And in support of other countries, I think it’s still possible for it to grow.
“Obviously we are behind everyone. We are behind, and I think it’s not even that visible yet. I think it will be visible in 10, 15 years how behind we are, unfortunately, because the generation that is growing now is the one that suffers the most.”
Three Ukrainian women reached the second week with qualifier Dayana Yastremska the last left – she plays Linda Noskova on Wednesday – after Elina Svitolina had to retired with a back injury.
Asked if they have been successful in attracting media attention to Ukrain again, Kostyuk said: “I think so. I think the girls did really well. I hope we will be able to succeed in most of the tournaments, especially the big ones where there is a lot of media.
I think people should be reminded. Before the match I was looking at the news and I kind of guess that most likely there would be a big missile shelling again. When I walked off the court, I look at this news again, and again, I don’t know how many missiles yet. It’s still too fresh.
“But yeah, I was texting with some people from Kyiv. I said: ‘How is it? How are you guys?’ They said: ‘Well, we were looking between your score and where the missiles are flying’. So it’s still there. It’s still there. My parents are still there. My sister is still there. It’s still there. Still not gone.”
