US Wimbledon star admits she ‘doesn’t know what to do’ to support Ukraine rivals

Madison Keys has admitted that she wants to support her Ukrainian rivals but doesn’t know how best to do it. The 25th seed will take on Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk in the third round at Wimbledon and said she thinks all players are involved – even if they aren’t Ukrainian or Russian.

Keys is enjoying a successful grass-court season so far – winning the title in Eastbourne last week before storming into the third round of Wimbledon for the loss of just 11 games across her first two matches. She now has a tricky opponent in Kostyuk, who has already upset No 8 seed Maria Sakkari this week.

Kostyuk is having a much better experience at the All England Club compared to Roland Garros, as the French crowd booed her following her first-round loss to Aryna Sabalenka when she refused to shake the Belarusian’s hand. The 21-year-old has been outspoken about the war in her home nation and her thoughts on Russian and Belarusian players competing on the tour.

Ahead of their first meeting, Keys showed her support to Kostyuk and the Ukrainians but she admitted she doesn’t entirely know what to do to help them out. “I mean, obviously it’s something that is in all of the headlines daily all over the world. It’s obviously a travesty what’s going on in Ukraine,” the 28-year-old said.

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“I think that it’s been incredibly difficult for all of the players to try and figure out and how to support and how to do the right things. It’s definitely something, even being an American that’s not involved, I think it’s hard to say we’re not involved when it’s all on the same tour.”

While Keys wants to do whatever she can, she is still stuck on what that could be. The world No 28 added: “But, I mean, I think at this point I try to be supportive however I can. At the same time, I don’t really know what to do in my position.”

It comes after Kostyuk criticised the French Open crowd again following her opening match at Wimbledon. The world No 36 felt that she had better support from the British fans.

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“Yeah, well, that was questionable behaviour from the fans. I mean, they can do whatever they want, honestly, but I just didn’t understand it. I don’t think I ever will,” Kostyuk said of the booing at the French Open.

“Yeah, obviously the support here is different, even though in the beginning of the match, I’d say that they were supporting Maria more than me, which is understandable, because she’s more known than me. You know, she’s top-10 player. You know, I was fine with it. Very happy with the support at the end of the match. I mean, throughout the match, too.”

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