We warmly welcome Ukrainian tennis players Elina Svitolina, Marta Kostyuk, Dayana Yastremska, Yuliia Starodubtseva, Daria Snigur, Anhelina Kalinina, Anastasiia Sobolieva, sisters Lyudmyla Kichenok and Nadiia Kichenok, and junior Nikita Bilozertsev to our Aussie shores.
Congratulations to Marta, Elina and Dayana for reaching the third round of the Australian Open 💪🏻 Marta, we proudly watched you today, and will continue to cheer for Elina and Dayana in their upcoming games!
With 10 qualifying athletes commencing in the Australian Open representing Ukraine, we could not be more inspired by their achievements and their conviction on and off the court.
In an interview with Channel 9, Marta describes “waking up from explosions”. She reaffirms she will not shake the hands of russian or belarusian players, and passionately calls for russian and belarusian players to be banned from the game:
“I look at other sports like athletics for example and these athletes aren’t there…I’m just questioning myself why they’re in tennis? What’s so different about it? Why are they so privileged to be here and compete?”
Bravo Marta! Thank you for reminding Australians that allowing russian and belarusian athletes to compete detracts and diminishes the death, destruction and horror caused by russia’s war against Ukraine.
We thank all our Ukrainian tennis players for their pride in Ukraine. Congratulations – you will always be winners in our eyes!
#AO2025 #AustralianOpen2025 #UkraineAO2025
