The 25-year-old traveled to Doha to practice, as she usually did from time to time when the WTA tournament calendar allowed her.
But this time it was different. Seven days later, Russia invaded its neighbor Ukraine, and Kalinina was forbidden to go home and see her family ever since.
“I left like any sane person,” said the world number 36, on the sidelines of her participation in the French Roland Garros, the second Grand Slam.
But she did not realize that for the next three months she would live on a suitcase, moving from one hotel to another, traveling from the Gulf to the United States and then back to Europe.
Certainly, “It feels awful. I just move from course to course, from hotel to hotel. I don’t always have a place to stay,” adding, “I used to live and train in Kyiv. I would go there every two or three weeks and spend two weeks there when I could.” “. But “Now, we’re jumping from one country to another. Yes, it’s horrible.”
The Dutch Cycle of Suhrtochenbos will be the next stop in its continuous journey
In her home in Kyiv, her mother, father and 18-year-old brother are still alive, and her house escaped the Russian missiles, she revealed, explaining, “My parents’ place was damaged a little, and my uncle’s house was completely destroyed. I can’t imagine what it looks like. My brother He’s only 18, and I can’t explain what he’s going through.”
Tennis has become her only goal and the only way to occupy herself with something away from the horror of the war her country has been experiencing since the ongoing Russian invasion until now, and whose focus has now shifted to the complete takeover of Donbass, the industrial basin partly controlled by pro-Russian separatists since 2014, after failing to Capture of Kyiv and Kharkiv.
The Ukrainian reached the quarter-finals of the Charleston and Madrid tournaments, after she surpassed three major title-winning players, American Sloane Stephens, Spain’s Garbine Mugurosa and Britain’s Emma Radocano, which allowed her to make her way to the top 40 club in the WTA rankings.
But it was not all without a price, as she admitted: “I couldn’t get my energy back and sometimes I felt bad. I tired my muscles.”
The forced withdrawal from Rome and Strasbourg was an opportunity for her to be in one place for more than a few days for the first time in three months, she said. At home with family and where you have always lived.”
(AFP)
She continued, “I’ve never lived outside the country, but I know that I have no choice. Everyone suffers.”
The Ukrainian, who has never won a professional title while Budapest last year made her first appearance in a WTA final, will not be able to stay long in Paris, as she will return to travel again after her exit from the singles and doubles competitions on Both at Roland Garros.
Receiving four defeats this season at the hands of one player, American Jessica Pegula, was not easy, but she fought fiercely on Thursday before being eliminated in the second round, losing 1-6, 5-7, 4-6.
Now, the Dutch tournament Sürtochenbos will be the next stop on her ongoing travels before she travels with her bag friend to London for Wimbledon, the third major tournament, and then to North America for the hard-court season.
And it remains that “every day I ask myself the question: When will I go home again? But I don’t see any chance now.”