Echoing 15th seed Marta Kostyuk’s sentiments, she said it was an ongoing mental weight Ukrainian players have had to carry since 2022.

“You are thinking too much, of course,” she said. “When there are other kind of situations happening like this, you know, of course you start to think about it, you start to think about just your life and, like, what are you doing here, in a way, because you could potentially lose your family.

“So I think it’s just, for all Ukrainians like that, in general, we have been dealing with that, just maybe not always talking about this, but it’s extremely tough, and I think it’s weighing on us for years and years now.”