Ukrainian tennis players juggling tournaments, ongoing war raging at home

When Ukrainian women's tennis player Katarina Zavatska first learned that Russia had invaded her homeland, she was unable to pick up a racket for more than a week.

Every waking second, she said her thoughts were consumed with the safety of her family back home in Ukraine.

With the Russia-Ukraine War now in its seventh week, Zavatska has come to grips with the "guilt" she first felt about about playing a game while her family lived in constant fear and danger.

She believes it is her duty to keep playing tennis.

Zavatska and teammates Dayana Yastremska, and Lyudmyla and Nadiia Kichenok will represent Ukraine this weekend in Asheville, North Carolina against the third-seeded United States in the qualifying round of the Billie Jean King Cup — formerly known as the Fed Cup and the women's equivalent to the Davis Cup.

At the beginning of the war, Zavatska made phone calls every 30 minutes, the worry engulfing her while she attempted to prepare for tennis tournaments in the United States.

"Every day I'm calling to my parents, my family, to ask them if they're alive," Zavatska said. "It seems like very tough, rude. But it's true. This is the reality right now."

Russia first invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told The Associated Press on Saturday he is committed to pressing for peace despite Russian attacks on civilians. Vadym Boychenko, the mayor of the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, said Monday that more than 10,000 civilians have died in the Russian siege of his city, and the death toll could surpass 20,000.

The 22-year-old Zavatska said her father was originally scheduled to travel with her to tennis tournaments before the war began.

That never happened.

Instead, his focus shifted to moving