ROLAND GARROS

May 24, 2026

Marta Kostyuk

Press Conference

M. KOSTYUK/O. Selekhmeteva

6-2, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Marta, strong performance today in some tough conditions. Just talk us through how the match felt today.

MARTA KOSTYUK: Yeah, I'm very happy with performance today, happy I played first. Was obviously a little bit hot, but sorry for everyone who is playing in the afternoon today.

But I think the match was really good. Happy with my performance.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. You made quite an emotional speech at the end of the match. Could you give us a few more details what happened this morning that next to your parents' house?

MARTA KOSTYUK: Well, I have this picture of my parents' house and everything around it. I don't have a video, but yeah, this is what I received at 8:00 in the morning today.

I had to, yeah, I had to live through it and deal with it and go out and play. I didn't know what to expect from myself. 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.

Q. You did play an underarm serve in the second set. Why did you choose that shot? And what's your opinion about the underarm serve?

MARTA KOSTYUK: Well, sometimes I look at Sandra, and she shows me that I should go underarm because it's a good moment to do it, and I agree it was a good moment to do it. I think if you can do it, why not use it?

It's still in practice. Sometimes I want it to be too short or an ace, actually. It's not easy to achieve. When I have space in the match, I love to do it, and it always surprises players.

Q. With everything that went on this morning, did you ever just consider pulling out and just not playing?

MARTA KOSTYUK: Well, not this morning, because obviously everyone is healthy, alive, out of the hospital, never was in the hospital.

So these things, you know, it's difficult, but none of my close friends or people I know is injured or dead, you know, so obviously it would be a much more challenging and more difficult. I don't want to think what I would do if something worse happened, but I knew that this is the day to go out and play, and it didn't cross my mind today that I shouldn't go out, because, you know, at the end of the day, everyone is, you know, alive. Everything is good.

Q. It's obviously been a very tough few years for you now, but I just wonder, was this one of the toughest moments this morning?

MARTA KOSTYUK: Well, I think the beginning of full-scale war was probably the most difficult because of unknownness, because you don't know what's going on. My whole family was there. We had 17 people in the house. It was just, yeah, it's just the unknown is the first, I think, couple of months was really difficult.

Right now I think it was just the closest that it has ever been to my house, and this what probably makes it the most emotional. There are obviously, as I said, there are better days, worse days, but yeah, this one was, I would say top three worst ones, for sure.

Q. Just curious how your mother and sister, family, after an event like this, and also in general, emotionally, how they have been dealing with the past few years?

MARTA KOSTYUK: Well, I didn't speak with them like on the phone yet, but I obviously texted, and most of my friends and most of the people who have -- because majority of Kyiv suffered from something like this this morning, and a lot of my friends, you know, they are just trying to sleep longer, just trying to recover, because it was half of the night, it was happening throughout, like, four hours.

Yeah, they are just resting, and, you know, just trying to recover, and, you know, that's it. It's good that it's Sunday today so everyone can, like, just stay home and, you know, spend the time with their loved ones.

They feel okay. Obviously very scary, but, you know, it's not the first very difficult night, not the last, so, you know, they are adapting.

Q. Could you clarify exactly who is back there at the moment from your family? And also just how exhausting is it for people there in Kyiv and across Ukraine to be going through this for several years now?

MARTA KOSTYUK: Well, I think it's definitely exhausting, especially when it repeatedly is happening over the night, nobody is sleeping well. 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.

Q. You mentioned that the first months of the war were the most difficult but it hasn't gone away. It feels a bit on tour -- we used to have fundraisers at the Grand Slams for Ukraine. That doesn't happen anymore. Is there any extent that you think the tour has kind of forgotten about the war?

MARTA KOSTYUK: Well, I think so, but, you know, I live it anyways, and I have also adapted to the fact that the tour forgot about it.

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.

Yeah, I mean, people adapt, people forget, people move on. There is a lot of issues in the world, a lot of wars, and things that people want to support or people are thinking about, and it obviously makes sense. You know, just people move on.

I do my job. I think this is what I am trying to focus the most. Obviously you cannot make someone do something. If they don't want to support, they don't want to help, I cannot force anyone to do it. I know what I am doing, and this is what matters to me the most.