Eva Lys exclusively on the war in Ukraine: “It was very important for me to send a signal”

The connections to the Ukraine are close, a large part of Eva Lys’s family still lives in the capital Kyiv. A city that means “indescribably much” to the young athlete and that has been under heavy fire from the Russian military for days.

“It’s terrible and I won’t sugarcoat anything,” says Lys, who is in constant contact with the local people and for whom it is important to set an example herself. At the current ITF tournament in Nur-Sultan, the 20-year-old played her first round game in a blue and yellow outfit. However, the world rankings-311. also realize that not all players have understood how bad the situation in Ukraine is.

However, Lys won her opening game 7-5, 7-5 against Ksenia Zaytseva from Russia.

After that she took the time to chat with Eurosport.de to talk about Ukraine and her family.

Tobias Laure conducted the interview

They are currently playing the ITF tournament in the Kazakh capital, Nur-Sultan. In the first round you competed in a blue and yellow outfit, the national colors of Ukraine. What did that trigger in you?

Eva Lys: It was a very proud feeling. I drove through the city with my mother to find something yellow. I already had something blue with me. But it was very important to me to set an example here. I am of the opinion that the war in Ukraine should not be left uncommented and that as an athlete you have to use your reach.

You were born in Kyiv and grew up in Germany. What is the meaning of your place of birth for you, were there regular visits to the Ukrainian capital?

List: Kyiv means so much to me. My family is from there and we used to visit regularly. That was a big part of my childhood and it breaks my heart to see what is happening to the people and this beautiful city now. I associate so many great moments with Kyiv, I think mainly of the time with my grandparents and their three dogs or the Ukrainian specialties that were eaten.

Can you reach your family at the moment?

List: Yes, we are in constant contact by phone. This is extremely important to us. The war is taking everyone along, but those who are on the ground in the country in particular need all the support they can get – and that starts with hearing each other regularly and talking to each other on the phone.

What do your relatives from Ukraine tell you?

List: I want to get one thing straight: it’s awful and I’m not going to sugarcoat it. It’s terrible. For example, I have a picture of a friend of my mother’s sleeping in the subway with her little daughter. When we talk on the phone, the bombs can be heard through the phone. Humans are helpless in the face of attacks, but they are incredibly brave. My grandmother and grandfather have now left Ukraine and arrived in Poland after a three-day journey. The other men from the family stayed in Kyiv to help.

Including your great-uncle, as you showed in a moving photo post on Instagram.

List: Yes, he is the chief physician in a Kiev clinic and stayed there to perform life-saving surgeries. By the way, the two men in uniform who are also in the photo are assigned to guard the hospital. What is happening in Ukraine right now is the worst imaginable.

Does it help you to know that – like your great-uncle – you can still do something and help?

List: The situation on the ground is characterized by extreme fear, everyone is in danger. But it helps me and it makes me proud to have such a strong and brave family.

Society must position itself. This also applies to tennis, which has now decided that Russian and Belarusian professionals are no longer allowed to compete under their national flag. How do you rate that?

List: First of all, I think it’s very good that the tennis associations ITF, WTA and ATP acted quickly – and rightly so. Tennis pros don’t embody a country in the same way that national teams do. So I think it’s right to ban Russian teams to send a crystal clear message. And I think it’s good that flags or the reference to Russia are removed in tennis, but the individual professionals are allowed to play.

The Ukrainian top player Elina Svitolina has positioned herself very clearly and in between also considered not playing against Russian opponents – but then did it anyway. You yourself played against Ksenia Zaytseva from Russia in the 1st round of Nur-Sultan. How do you deal with that?

List: You have to differentiate there. In her deliberations, Elina Svitolina was not directed against Anastasia Potapova as a person. It was about setting a sign that may have shaken some. With the aim that everyone really understands that a genocide is taking place in Ukraine. It’s about so much more than tennis. That’s also clear to me here at the tournament in Nur-Sultan, which I find very strenuous.

Because?

List: Many Russian players who are here show disrespect to those affected by the Ukraine war. They laugh about it, make fun of it. Some demonstratively put on tracksuits in the Russian national colors. It is all the more important that we spread widely and widely what is really happening there. This message must reach everyone.

Let’s look at the sporting side – even if it’s difficult at the moment. You became German champion in 2021, are currently 311th in the ranking and have already won two ITF tournaments. What are your goals and how do you define them?

List: I have a wonderful team around me with whom I discuss everything. So are my goals. In the past few months I have shown the best tennis I have ever played. That’s why I want to move up the rankings, soon be in the top 200 in the world and also take part in the Grand Slam events. It is also important to adjust the goals again and again.

Ms. Lys, thank you for the interview.