Italian Open star’s family had bomb dropped next to their home of 60 years

Anhelina Kalinina has opened up on the horrific reality her family at home in Ukraine is facing. The world No 47 is through to the final of the Italian Open this week, days after her parents narrowly avoided a “huge bomb” near their tennis academy. And it comes after her grandparents fled their home of 60 years after they also survived a near-miss when a bomb landed right by their house.

Kalinina became the Italian Open’s lowest-ranked finalist in 38 years after defeating Veronika Kudermetova in the semi-final. The 26-year-old will now face Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina with the Rome title on the line and is hoping her run is bringing positivity to those at home in Ukraine.

The 30th seed noticeably didn’t shake Kudermetova’s hand after defeating the Russian on Thursday and she later shared the heartbreaking details of her family’s near-misses with bombs in the midst of the war in Ukraine. “My whole family now is in Kyiv, yeah,” Kalinina confirmed after her grandparents were forced to flee to the capital.

Although Kalinina’s grandparents had left Nova Kakhovka for the safety of Kyiv, she revealed that her parents’ tennis academy also found itself close to the site of a bombing just days ago. The world No 47 added: “Actually few days ago, where my family is working, because my mum and dad, they’re like tennis coaches, and it was huge, huge bomb near them, near their academy.

“Yeah, near the tennis court. We have academy. Just, I don’t know, maybe 300 meters airport, and there is no airport. This is how they live.” And it wasn’t the first time Kalinina’s family experienced a near-miss with a bomb.

The Rome finalist explained that she had to urge her grandparents to leave their home of 60 years after the area became occupied by Russia. Kalinina continued: “I was saying, I don’t know, two months maybe ago, before my grandmother and grandfather, they were in Nova Kakhovka, this is currently occupied territory by Russian soldiers.

“But they were able to go immediately when it was attacked. So currently my whole family is in Kyiv. I have no connections with Nova Kakhovka any more because everyone is in Kyiv, yeah. I’m super happy because it’s absolutely impossible to stay, to live, because there was so much weapon, so much soldiers near my grandmother and grandfather house. It was absolutely not possible to live, to stay.”

“No, it’s not a normal life. Yeah, when the bomb came directly to their house, but it was a little bit maybe, I don’t know, couple of metres left, not exactly in their apartment, but left. They kind of wake up and realize, Oh, my God, yeah, we have to move.”

With her country in the midst of a war, Kalinina is hoping that her run in Rome has given some relief as she bids to win the biggest title of her career. “I really hope that I give a tiny, small light, maybe some positive emotions for my country. So I really hope that Ukraine enjoys a little bit,” she said after advancing to the championship match.