# Only Roland Garros towel left, says Ukraine tennis player after Russian strike hits flat

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/only-roland-garros-towel-left-says-ukraine-tennis-player-after-russian-strike-hits-flat/
- Published: 2026-09-13T09:12:14+00:00
- Updated: 2026-09-13T15:16:19+00:00
- Original publisher: BBC World (publisher lean: Centre)
- Original article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gr33g3evlo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss
- Topics: Europe, Russia-Ukraine War, Sport, Tennis, World

## Key points

- Yastremska's Odesa flat destroyed by a Russian Kalibr missile strike
- Only a Roland Garros towel survived amid the wreckage
- Attack injured 37, including a baby; two people missing

## Summary

Ukrainian tennis player Dayana Yastremska has said her family's flat in the Black Sea port of Odesa was destroyed in a Russian missile strike, with only a Roland Garros towel surviving the blaze. The 26-year-old shared images of the burning building on social media, describing it as "a direct hit by a Kalibr cruise missile" and appealing to tennis's governing bodies to take notice, underscoring the continuing toll the war is taking on Ukrainian civilians and athletes more than three years into Russia's full-scale invasion.

The Friday night attack on Odesa and nearby Chornomorsk involved both missiles and drones, injuring 37 people, including a baby, with two others reported missing, according to regional head Oleh Kiper. Yastremska, currently ranked 113th in the world and a 2024 Australian Open semi-finalist, posted a photo of a signature orange clay Roland Garros towel hanging from the wreckage, writing "a piece of world tennis survived a Russian missile, our home did not" and urging the WTA and ITF to "look at these images through our eyes". She is not the first Ukrainian athlete to have a home hit by Russian strikes; footballer Heorhiy Sudakov's Kyiv flat was damaged by a drone last year.

## Coverage

- [BBC World: Only Roland Garros towel left, says Ukraine tennis player after Russian strike hits flat](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gr33g3evlo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss)
- [Daily Mail: Ukraine tennis star hits out after Russian missile strike destroyed her family home in tower block attack that killed two and injured 37 including a baby](https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16127497/Ukraine-tennis-star-Russian-missile-strike-destroyed-family-home.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490)

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.