{"id":419148,"date":"2026-01-20T17:52:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T17:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/419148\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T17:52:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T17:52:08","slug":"ukrainian-tennis-player-asks-sporting-world-to-protect-children-and-women-at-australian-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/419148\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukrainian tennis player asks sporting world to \u2018protect children and women\u2019 at Australian Open"},"content":{"rendered":"

MELBOURNE, Australia\u2014 Oleksandra Oliynykova<\/a> exceeded expectations in her maiden Grand Slam main-draw match \u2014 but she might have left a deeper impression in her news conference.<\/p>\n

The Ukrainian entered the media room after a 7-6(6), 6-1 defeat to defending champion Madison Keys<\/a> wearing a T-shirt that read: \u201cI need your help to protect Ukrainian children and women, but I can\u2019t talk about it here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know how people can help to protect Ukrainians, to protect them against these drones, but we will need to speak outside about this,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Since 2024, Russia has used drones extensively in Ukraine, which it invaded in 2022. It has targeted Oliynykova\u2019s home city Kyiv in recent days, leading to civilian deaths, injuries and sustained power outages across Ukraine\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my apartment, I have no electricity, no water, no heat,\u201d Oliynykova said. She recalled bombs striking buildings down the road from her, rattling her own, the night before she left Ukraine to travel to Melbourne for the Australian Open.<\/p>\n

Oliynykova maintains a website<\/a> to receive donations to a Ukrainian drone unit in which her father serves, as reported by Bounces<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmong those who defend Ukraine is my father. He serves in the 412th Separate Brigade of Unmanned Systems \u201cNEMESIS\u201d, one of the most advanced drone units in the Ukrainian Defence Forces,\u201d a bio on the website reads.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis combat team works every day to stop Russian attacks and protect Ukrainian cities and villages. [The website] is how I connect my tennis world with his frontline reality. Together with friends and supporters, we raise funds for mission-critical equipment that helps his unit see further, react faster, and come home alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oliynykova has carried a flag representing the unit to other Grand Slam tournaments, and cited her father as her biggest inspiration in her news conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter he joined the military, I did progress 200 positions [in the rankings]\u2026 Because I know it was his dream to see me on this court,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old, who had to ask where to sit on her way into the interview room, was also proud of her unconventional, brave performance against Keys on Rod Laver Arena<\/a>.<\/p>\n

She led the opening set 4-0, before extending Keys to a tense tiebreak in which Oliynykova led 6-4 before the American produced four impeccable points to snatch it away.<\/p>\n

Oliynykova\u2019s slices and moonballs unsettled the American, who said in her own news conference that the last time she played an opponent with such command over the moonball tactic was in \u201c12-and-unders.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re so high, and they\u2019re so deep,\u201d Keys said of Oliynykova\u2019s topspin-loaded skyers.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Even when it came to the missed opportunities Oliynykova saw go by in the first set, she saw the bright side. She said she may have tried to hit too big a first serve at 6-4 up in the tiebreak, which missed and forced her to hit a slower second that Keys punished for a winner.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not always about winning or losing,\u201d Oliynykova said, in a sentiment rarely shared by the professional elite.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s not good in the sport that we are putting too much pressure on the athlete depending only the results, because when you are playing great tennis, you are playing against great opponents, you see high sportsmanship from both sides, you see very kind fans who is cheering for both.\u201d<\/p>\n

She extended the sentiment to the wider sporting world. \u201cI\u2019m not watching a lot of sport,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t watch a lot of tennis, actually\u2026 Every competition is important, every opportunity to say something about Ukraine. It\u2019s sad, because this war is very long, and I think people are losing attention after so many years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her father, however, was certainly watching.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe told me that it was amazing match, he just texted me, and yeah, I made his dream come true in such a situation,\u201d Oliynykova said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat could be more? What could be biggest motivation? I cannot imagine this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MELBOURNE, Australia\u2014 Oleksandra Oliynykova exceeded expectations in her maiden Grand Slam main-draw match \u2014 but she might have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":419149,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[690,99,428],"class_list":{"0":"post-419148","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-culture","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=419148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/419149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=419148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=419148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=419148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}