There are matches that go beyond the simple issue of the score. Thursday June 4, in the afternoon, on the central court, Marta Kostyuk and Mirra Andreeva play a semi-final of Roland-Garros. One is Ukrainian, the other Russian, giving this confrontation a particular dimension on the international women’s tennis circuit (WTA) after more than four years of war between the two countries.
This 2026 edition of Roland-Garros notably opened with a night marked by massive strikes: 600 drones and 90 missiles were launched on Ukraine. A projectile fell 100 meters from the home of Marta Kostyuk’s mother. A few hours later, the player entered the Simonne-Mathieu court to play the first round.
Les gestes engagés by Marta Kostyuk
Since the start of the war, Marta Kostyuk has been one of the most active players on the circuit to recall the situation in Ukraine. She systematically refuses to shake the hands of her Russian or Belarusian opponents at the end of a match, as after her title in Madrid in May against Mirra Andreeva. She claims it in L’Équipe: “It’s not an oversight, it’s a choice. »
Marta Kostyuk is also one of the few to publicly criticize the attitude of the WTA. “I am living this war and I have adapted to the fact that the circuit has forgotten it,” she declared in Paris at a press conference. Criticizing Russian players who do not take a position on the conflict, she said she was waiting for “a clearer position on what is happening, especially when your country is killing other people”. She regularly cites Daria Kasatkina, who became a naturalized Australian last year after expressing her opposition to the war, as the only Russian she “respects” on the circuit.
The Paris tournament once again confronted her with the reality of the conflict. After her victory in the quarterfinals against her compatriot Elina Svitolina, the player dedicated her match to the Ukrainian people, the day after Russian strikes left at least 21 dead, including six in kyiv. “When I woke up this morning, I saw it was all over the media. I sent a message to my family. They were fine. That’s about all I can do,” she explained at a press conference.
Mirra Andreeva remains neutral
For her part, Mirra Andreeva, 19, has stuck to a discourse of neutrality since the start of the conflict. Asked about facing a Ukrainian, she assured that it “doesn’t matter” and that she “just tries to play against the ball that’s coming.”
In March 2025, before facing Elina Svitolina in Indian Wells, she was a little more explicit: “Of course, it’s not easy. But I have already faced four, five Ukrainian players since the start of the conflict and I try not to think about it. I will prepare for this match like any other match. » She then won the meeting and then the tournament.
During the Madrid Open, after her defeat in the final against Marta Kostyuk, Mirra Andreeva was in tears. She praised the level of her opponent, without commenting on his refusal to shake his hand. Marta Kostyuk congratulated all her opponents in the tournament before concluding: “Glory to Ukraine. »
A face-to-face already loaded
The two players have faced each other twice since the start of the year. In Brisbane in January, it was Marta Kostyuk who won the match in the quarter-finals. In Madrid in May, the two players met in the final on clay: victory again for Marta Kostyuk. Two to zero before this third act.
Marta Kostyuk, 23 years old and 15th in the world, would enter the top 10 for the first time if she reaches the final. She remains on sixteen consecutive victories on clay this season. Mirra Andreeva, 19 years old and 8th in the world, has twenty victories for three defeats in 2026 and is aiming for her first Grand Slam final.
Since February 2022, the international women’s professional tennis circuit (WTA) has kept Russian and Belarusian players competing under a neutral banner. A position defended in the name of the individual responsibility of athletes. Marta Kostyuk would like each Russian player to say, publicly, where she stands.
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