Two players from Ukraine have reached the women’s quarterfinals of the Australian Open and have used their platform to speak out about the war in their home country, reminding the public of its ongoing tragedy.
Dayana Yastremska and Marta Kostyuk, the two Ukrainian players to make the top eight, have used post-match press conferences to address their concerns over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, expressing their fears that “people are starting to forget about what is going on.”
At a media conference after her fourth-round victory, Yastremska described the emotional toll the war has had on her.
“It’s tough emotionally to play, but the worst thing is you feel like you were already accepting this, what is happening,” the 23-year old said. “It’s tough to play, but after two years you get to manage already how to deal with all the emotions and with everything that is going on inside.”
“The war, of course, it’s affected us, well, a lot. Because you cannot go home like you wanted, when you wanted, like it was before. You always read the news. You always see the videos.”
Yastremska, ranked 93rd in the world, defeated 18th seed Belarusian Victoria Azarenka 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time in her career. There, she will face 19-year old Czech player Linda Nosková. The match will take place on Wednesday.
Yastremska was born in Odesa in May 2000 and began playing tennis aged five. At 15, she made her junior major debut at the 2016 Australian Open, where she reached the singles quarterfinals, losing to Swiss-born Spanish player Rebeka Masarova.
This year marks the first time in Australian Open history that two players from Ukraine have reached the women’s quarterfinals. A record 7 women from Ukraine competed in the main draw of the main tournament this year.
Yastremska will be joined by Marta Kostyuk. Kostyuk, who is currently unseeded, has also been outspoken about the war during her Australian Open campaign.
After her fourth-round win over Russia’s Maria Timofeeva 6-2, 6-1, the 21-year old said the last two years has been “very difficult.”
“It really seems for a lot of people that [the war] is over,” she said.
“Something incredible happened. Ukraine managed to not be [captured] in three days, in Kyiv as well. So it was like all a miracle. I feel it’s not a miracle any more, so why talk about it? Yeah, I hope that the [Ukrainian] girls can keep on doing what they’re doing and reminding as much as possible.”
“The war is still there. People are still dying every day.”
Following her victory against Timofeeva, Kostyuk returned to her chair, refusing to acknowledge her Russian opponent.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, players from Ukraine have not been shaking hands with players from Russia in a gesture of solidarity with the soldiers fighting on the frontlines.
“I feel like in general it’s a lot of processes happening to come to this point where people forget about it because people get used to it,” Kostyuk said.
“I understand that everyone has their own issues, and everyone is focused on their thing. I think I’m here to remind everyone all the time that it’s still on, and it should be stopped. It’s not normal that it’s happening.”
“If there was never a war in my life, I don’t think I would be able to grow this much as I grew in the last two years.”
Kostyuk praised her fellow Ukrainian players, adding that she is “…very proud of all of us, honestly, for standing for so long and not losing faith and still fighting and fighting for our rights and fighting for everyone basically.”
“I think it just shows how strong Ukrainian people are.”
On Sunday night, Kostyuk criticised a post from the official US Open account which displayed a Russian flag next to Timofeeva’s name.
At this year’s Australian Open, Russian and Belarusian players are playing as neutral athletes — their flags replaced by dark blue squares.
“Today, after my victory over the athlete from the aggressor country, the Russian flag was published on the official resource of one of the biggest tennis tournaments in the world,” Kostyuk wrote about the post, which has since been deleted.
“The sports world continues to promote a murderous country and a country that uses its athletes as part of its propaganda. I call on media representatives, officials and the sports community to stop using the tennis court to promote ‘Russian peace’.”
This is not Kostyuk’s first appearance at the Australian Open. In 2018, aged 15, she became the youngest player in more than 20 years to reach the third round of a Grand Slam at the Australian Open.
Kostyuk is due to face reigning US Open champion and fourth seed Coco Gauff later today in the quarterfinals.