© Getty Images Sport – Phil Walter
Ukrainian tennis player Marta Kostyuk says it is “disappointing” and “shocking” that no Russian player has shown any remorse over what has been happening in her country for the past two years.
Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, 21-year-old Kostyuk has been one of the most outspoken players in support of Ukraine. Also, Kostyuk was one of the players who was trying to push for the WTA to suspend Russian and Belarusian players from competing across the ATP and WTA Tours.
But the calls to suspend Russian and Belarusian players from competing were left unanswered and Kostyuk claims it is extremely painful for her to watch Russian players on site, and even more difficult to play against them.
On Friday, world No. 37 Kostyuk reached the Australian Open round-of-16 after beating Russia’s Elina Avanesyan 2-6 6-4 6-4. After beating Avanesyan, Kostyuk admitted that she thought “I’m not going to do it, I can’t win it” on the morning of her match against the Russian.
But after a very slow start to the match against world No. 74 Avanesyan, Kostyuk was able to recover and clinch a big comeback win. After beating Avanesyan, Kostyuk pretty candidly spoke about how…
