Darya Lopatecka fled her homeland before the war, and soon after learned of the death of her father, who had to remain in Ukraine. The 19-year-old tennis player found asylum in Říčany and received a wild card for the Prague tournament in May. “I can’t turn my head off what’s going on in Ukraine. My heart and soul are there,” he says.
Lopatecká comes from Kharkov, but last year she trained in Kiev. “I didn’t want to leave. I wanted to stay and help,” the young player confides. In the end, she could not stay in the capital, but she decided to escape with her mother and younger sister after twenty days full of fear and nightmares.
“I woke up at five in the morning because of the explosions and didn’t know what would happen. I was hoping it would end soon, but I was worried about myself, my family and my friends. At that moment, I realized that I would be more helpful than I could. When I will play tennis and promote the Ukrainian flag in the world, “says the tennis player.
Her father remained in Ukraine. He drove a truck, carried help and medicine.
“It was very difficult to leave Dad there. But of course I still hoped to see him again soon. Now I know I won’t see him,” Lopatecká says with fresh pain in her voice.
Two weeks ago, he was returning from the highway in Kharkov, and he had not finished. His heart stopped behind the wheel. From the stress and hard work that made him hard to sleep.
He now wants to fight for him on the courts. He will get the opportunity at the 1st ČLTK Prague Open tournament, which takes place in Štvanice at the beginning of May. He received a wild card from the organizers.
Lopatecká and her family found the background in the Czech Republic thanks to the help of the Oáza Říčany tennis club. The journey from Ukraine took a day and a half. First by train from Kiev to Uzhhorod, where the family was picked up by the director of the Říčany club, Eva Slaninková.
“They were so settled that they slept almost all the way from eastern Slovakia to Prague,” recalls Slaninková.
“Darya carried only a small briefcase. She also had to leave the rockets in Kiev. She had almost no money, but she had a determination I had never seen in such a young girl. By the way, she gave us a tip on where it was easiest to cross the border. former Slovak tennis player Janette Husárová, “says the director.
Lopatecká is preparing to move to Sweden. There he will train for most of the season. “But he can always come back to us. We will take care of her, my sister and my mother,” Slaninková assures.
Years ago, Lopatecká was considered a great talent of world tennis. When she moved to the adult category at the age of fifteen, she immediately won her first tournament. In a short time, she climbed the ladder just behind the elite two hundred, but was stopped by a serious knee injury.
“After the operation, it took two years to fully recover. Unfortunately, under the pressure of the environment, I hurried back, so I played with pain. Tennis hurt physically and mentally then, because I suddenly lost to the players I had beaten until then. it didn’t work, I also received a lot of hate messages from fans that I wasn’t ready for as a little girl, “the tennis player reveals her story.
Now she has a difficult journey ahead of her. Life has turned upside down, it is difficult to compare with personal tragedy and the situation in her homeland. She hopes tennis will help her.
“It will be a long and difficult journey, but I have a desire and a new motivation for it. Although my heart and soul remain in Ukraine,” he says.
She is extremely grateful for the help of the Říčany club and for the wild card to the Prague tournament. “I don’t have the words to thank the organizers. Perhaps at least by being healthy and ready to play as best I can,” says the tennis player.
