Tearful Triumph: Anguished Kostyuk Wins RG Opener After Missile Attack Near Home
By Richard Pagliaro | Sunday, May 24, 2026
Photo credit: Alain Jocard/AFP/Getty
Carrying a heavy heart onto Court Simonne Mathieu, Marta Kostyuk felt familiar fear haunting her head.
A strong-willed Kostyuk stared down severe stress staging a tearful triumph at Roland Garros.
Madrid Open champion Kostyuk defeated Oksana Selekhmeteva 6-2, 6-3 for her 12th consecutive clay-court victory then shed tears after scoring what she called the toughest match of her career.
Afterward, Kostyuk shared the trauma she carried on court as the latest violent attack in Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine hit close to home leaving Kostyuk shaken and scared.
An emotional Kostyuk shared the story of a frightening missile attack on her native Ukraine. A rocket destroyed a building about 100 meters from her parents’ home in Ukraine.
Hearing the news this morning before she took the court, a rattled Kostyuk broke down in tears and said she was unsure how she would manage emotion on court
“I think it was one of the most difficult matches of my career,” Kostyuk said. “This morning, 100 meters from my parents’ house, a missile destroyed the building. And it was a very difficult morning for me.
“I didn’t know how this match was going to turn around for me. I didn’t know how I will handle it. I’ve been crying part of the morning and I don’t want to talk about myself today.
“I’m obviously very pleased to be in the second round but all my thoughts and all my heart go to the people of Ukraine.”
Channeling her anguish into action, Kostyuk continued her red-hot roll on red clay that includes her 6-3, 7-5 win over Mirra Andreeva in the Mutua Madrid Open final earlier this month for her biggest career championship.
Taking the court today, Kostyuk said she was stricken by a sickening feeling “if [the missile] was 100 meters closer, I probably wouldn’t have a mom and a sister today.”
“I had to live through it and deal with it and go out and play. I didn’t know what to expect from myself,” Kostyuk told the media in Paris. “I didn’t know how my focus is going to be, how I’m going to be able to, you know, control my emotions or my thoughts.
“There were obviously times in the match when I would go in back to thinking about it, because most of the morning I felt sick just for my thought that see if it was 100 meters closer, I probably wouldn’t have a mom and a sister today.
“It was really difficult to just process it so quick and also go out and play. That’s why I’m also very happy that I played first match, because I don’t know what would be the outcome if I played last, for example.
Yeah, it’s tough, but I’m very proud of myself today, of how we all handled it, and, you know, happy to be in the second round and that everyone is alive.”
Kostyuk said repeated missile strikes near Kyiv cause sleepless nights for family and friends back home. Though they are drained, they are determined and Kostyuk said she draws strength and resilience from the courage of her compatriots.
“I think it’s definitely exhausting, especially when it repeatedly is happening over the night, nobody is sleeping well,” Kostyuk said. “People are just more irritated and scared. But generally, everyone is
really angry, and everyone, you know, just wants to keep going.
“Everyone is trying to help whoever they need to help, and that’s it. People are very resilient, and this is
something to learn from them, for sure. Right now, in the house, was my mom, my sister, and sister of my grandma. At that moment, it was just three of them.”
The 23-year-old Kostyuk continues to use her platform to remind the world of the horrors war-ravaged Ukrainians are feeling, a fact she asserts the WTA Tour “forgot about it.”
In her Madrid victory speech and her runner-up speech in Brisbane after bowing to Belarusian world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, Kostyuk credits Ukrainians’ fighting spirit as a primary inspirational force.
“I live it anyways, and I have also adapted to the fact that the tour forgot about it,” Kostyuk said.
“I’m still trying to do things that I can do and to what I can to influence, and I use my platform, I use my speeches or, you know, whenever I have a moment to remind about it, to remind of the horror of, you know, everyday lives of people.”
The 15th-seeded Kostyuk will play American Katie Volynets in round two.
Post Comment