Strange pictures

Bazooka, uniform: tennis star in a war zone

Elina Svitolina visits her home in Kharkiv. A soldier shows her how to use the bazooka (photo right).(Bild: GEPA pictures, instagram.com/elisvitolina)

Unusual pictures of tennis star Elina Svitolina: the world number 23 visited her Ukrainian homeland of Kharkiv and also picked up a weapon, as her new Instagram post shows.

While many tennis stars are currently on vacation at the beach, Svitolina is traveling to a war zone. More precisely, to her home city of Kharkiv, where she apparently supported the Ukrainian army.

An anxious look, uniform, bazooka and machine gun in hand - Svitolina's new Instagram post provides disconcerting images. "The city that gave me the feeling of a real home when I started my career here at the age of twelve. The city that continues to offer warmth and protection during the Great War," she writes.

Svitolina's "war" posting to click through:

"My motivation"
Often with her on her travels: former tennis pro Sergey Stakhovskyi, who ended his career in 2022 and went to the front. "If you ask me where I find the motivation to fight in the sports arenas? It's my country, my people, my Kharkiv and our heroes," said Svitolina.

Her family supports her in making the not entirely harmless trips to the troops fighting in the war. Sometimes her husband Gael Monfils (38), who like her is a professional tennis player, and her daughter Skai (2) accompany her to Ukraine.

In the next few days, however, Svitolina will swap the war zone for the tennis court again. She will then prepare for the Australian Open in January. She reached the quarter-finals there in 2018.