Kalinina takes in family after bomb wrecks home

Anhelina Kalinina set up a secondround tie against Ukrainian compatriot Lesia Tsurenko and revealed that her Wimbledon prize-money would be sent home to family and friends living “on their bags” after their apartment block was bombed.

Kalinina and Tsurenko are discussing making a public display of solidarity when they meet tomorrow. Tsurenko is keen to clarify what Wimbledon will allow her to display on court following the ban on all Russian and Belarusian players.

Kalinina did have a yellow and blue ribbon on her kit-bag and, revealing that her family’s apartment had been bombed, said: “Thank God, they are alive. But they live, like many other Ukrainians, on the bags, so you never know what’s going to happen tomorrow.

“There are huge holes in the house. There are no apartments any more. So they live in my apartment, where I’m living with my husband.

It’s a very small apartment for my family ... my mum, my dad, my brother, and they have pets.

“It’s hard to focus, but for me, it matters if I win or if I lose. I’m not only helping my family, I’m helping other families. I’m helping my grandmother and grandfather, who are in occupied territory. They can’t leave. Next door is Russian soldiers with all their military stuff.”

Asked about the ban on Russian players, the world No34 said: “We cannot compare this with what they are now missing and how many millions of people are killed, still dying, and how many refugees are brought and surviving, with mothers with their kids.

“People are out of money, out of family, out of their jobs. They don’t have anything.”