(CNN)With its strawberries and cream, grassy slopes and peaceful setting in a leafy part of London, Wimbledon is a world away from Ukraine, where the bombs are still falling four months after Russia invaded.
However, for the Ukrainians competing at SW19, the war never really leaves them.
On Wednesday, Anhelina Kalinina will face Lesia Tsurenko in an all-Ukrainian second-round match, whom they hope can draw attention to her country’s ongoing plight.
Since Russia launched its war in Ukraine in February, millions of refugees have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries, and Kalinina sees her family as being among the uprooted.
She confirmed to reporters Monday that her parents’ home in the Kiev suburb of Irpin was bombed, saying “they live, they’re safe,” but “live off the bags and pray every day.”
“There’s huge holes in the house, like huge holes,” she said, before revealing the family was now living with her and her husband.
“It’s a very small apartment for my family because my mother, father, brother and they have pets.
“They are so happy and we are thankful … that they have a place to move out of the city of Irpin because Irpin is completely bombed.”
“I am very helpful to my grandmother and grandfather who are now in occupied territory,” she added.
“They can’t go. So next door are like Russian soldiers with all their military stuff.”
After beating Anna Bondar 4-6 6-2 6-4 in the first round, Kalinina secured £78,000 ($96,000) to help her family. A second-round win would net £120,000 ($147,000) in total.
“I understand that it’s hard to concentrate, but for me it’s important whether I win or lose,” said Kalinina.
“If you get further, you’ll make more money. Then I can help and I help as much as I can and not just my family. So for me that counts.”
“We’re still at war and we need your help”
Her opponent on Wednesday, Tsurenko, has been working with a psychologist to deal with the trauma caused by the war.
While Tsurenko’s mother continues to live in southern Ukraine, her sister now lives near her in Italy after witnessing three months of war in Ukraine.
“I don’t feel good,” she told reporters. “I’m really concerned, especially knowing that they are trying to get the one object that is 100 meters from my house out of the building I live in.
“When the war started, I felt this tension inside me… This feeling, this tension, will not be released until the war is over. I can not help it.”
At previous Grand Slams this year, Tsurenko was drawn in the opening round against eventual tournament winners – Ashleigh Barty at the Australian Open and Iga Swiatek at the French Open.
At Wimbledon, however, Tsurenko received a more favorable first-round opponent, defeating Britain’s Jodie Burridge in a 6-2, 6-2 win.
Like Kalinina, her motivation to continue playing tennis stems from using her platform to help her country.
“I think with all the athletes who can take part in the competitions, also with all the singers who go to Poland, to Germany and with all the concerts, that part when the Ukrainians just go and remind the whole world we’re here, we’re still at war and we need your help,” she said.
“That’s the most important thing I would like, that we get a lot of heavy weapons. We just want to remind you [people] that Ukraine is in trouble and we need help.”
On the same day as Tsurenko’s first game at Wimbledon, war swept across the frontline again when a Russian airstrike hit a shopping mall in Kremenchuk in central Ukraine, killing at least 18 people.
The tennis player said the hardest thing for her was knowing the people on the front lines.
“A guy was kidnapped by Russians, so we don’t know what’s going on with him,” she said.
“We know he’s alive. Two other guys are fighting there at the moment and a couple of people have already died because of the war.”
On Monday, the two players had not decided how to honor their home country during their match.
“It’s great that two of us meet in the second round and so in the third round it will be a Ukrainian,” she continued.
Tsurenko said that if allowed, she would wear a Ukrainian ribbon on her gear.
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