KOLB brothers: “We play much better while the Crimean Bridge is burning”

Ukrainian tennis players Hope And Marina Kolb They continue to please Ukrainian fans with their games.

Since June 19, the sisters have played 14 tournaments together. During this time, Ukrainians reached the finals 5 times and won 2 championships, as well as managed to reach the semi-finals two more times.

Last week, Nadezhda and Marina won the cup at the ITF W80 series clay tournament held in Seville, defeating Cristina Dinu (Romania) / Sappho Sakellaridi (Greece) in the final with scores of 6:1 and 6:1. In 48 minutes.

30-year-old Nadezhda Kolb and 26-year-old Marina Kolb are natives of Crimea, more precisely, Yevpatoria.

Editorial Spor.ua I could not ignore such a confident and winning performance of talented Ukrainian women and invited the sisters to give an interview. Marina and Nadezhda agreed without hesitation and answered questions.

– What is the current situation in Crimea? What news and information do you have about people’s opinions? Are your relatives there, how are they? Do you communicate with anyone other than your relatives?

Nadezhda Kolb: – I have two old grandmothers in Crimea and only a few people that I worry about. We continue our communication with them. Most of my relatives and friends left both 9 years ago and last year.

I will not tire of emphasizing that pro-Ukrainian views were greater in 2014, this is proven by our thousands of rallies and various polls. Then many pro-Ukrainian people and young people have already left, and more than a million invaders have moved here, so there is no point in talking about any statistics there now. As for the local separatists, I personally don’t really care whether their views change or not. I won’t forgive them.

What I know for sure is that in Crimea there are partisans, there are spies, there are certain movements that resist every day. Crimea is Ukraine!

– What do you think about flying to Sevastopol?

Nadezhda Kolb: – We are very happy. Sevastopol is generally a very military city, coming here is a different excitement. Just like in our hometown Evpatoria, which specializes in air defense and radar systems. These are strange sensations: on the one hand, everything there seems familiar and very familiar to you and you miss it very much, on the other hand, you are waiting for new and very strong explosions there.

Even when I wake up at night, I look at the news. And today I read about the explosions in Sevastopol at 4 o’clock in the morning. Perfect. It is very important for us to know that they fought for Crimea and will fight for it! We also realized that the bavovna in Crimea affected the quality of our game. We play much better when the Crimean Bridge burns or a Russian military base or landing party enters Cape Tarkhankut 🙂

– How is your coaching career currently? Do you train and earn money? Do you manage to earn a normal income?

Nadezhda Kolb: – We didn’t play any tournaments for the first six months, so we missed most of the season. I was researching how I could be useful to our army, and I even managed to work as a translator during the training of our officers, although it did not last long. Then I worked a lot as a coach in Riga, and to some extent this is a comfortable option, because I had enough money to live and be able to support military meetings, and yet now it is important for us to be the representative of Ukrainian Crimea in the world of tennis and in the world of sports in general.

Telling our story is telling the truth. Playing in 5 finals in the last 2 months gave us the opportunity to speak both at the award ceremony and on local television, reminding us that our city was occupied. We are just playing to one day return home and go to Ukraine to call for more help.

– What are your plans for the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024? Which tournaments do you want to play in?

Marina Kolb: – We are playing in Portugal this week, this is our 11th tournament in a row, after which 2 tournaments are planned in France, one is the 80,000th, the other is the 60,000th, and then we plan to move home (i.e. to a temporary home in Riga), maybe more on the way We play something. Since we travel by car, it is more difficult to choose tournaments. It is difficult to say that there are no specific plans yet for December and the beginning of next year.

– Do you plan to participate in WTA 125 series and above competitions, i.e. at the WTA Tour level, in the near future?

Marina Kolb: – Yes, we want to try to enter the WTA tournaments, because we see that we have already entered some tournaments in the 125 series thanks to our doubles rating. So I think she has a good chance of playing at WTA level next year, maybe even this one 😊

– What do you think about shaking hands with Russians and Belarusians? As you said before, you do not shake hands, but what about Kasatkina, for example? Will you shake hands?

Nadezhda Kolb: – I am categorically against shaking hands and believe that all Ukrainian athletes should unite on this issue. As for more or less competent athletes, I think that if they are really competent and behave with understanding, they already understand everything. They won’t make a show out of it. And those who still do not understand why they do not shake hands, then these people cannot even be mentioned.

Sometimes, when I play against representatives of the Russian Federation and Belarus, especially if I do not know their position exactly, killed friends, acquaintances and tortured Ukrainians stand before my eyes. Shaking hands is unacceptable to me.

– A somewhat standard question: Who is your idol in the world of tennis and sports?

Nadezhda Kolb: – War forces you to reconsider your views on many topics, including idols. Firstly, I understand that very few people manage to become an outstanding athlete, tennis player and at the same time remain a kind, gentle, sympathetic person off the court. Secondly, no matter how well my idol plays, he cannot be someone who remains silent about the events.

Therefore, the first thing that comes to mind is Iga Swiatek, who, despite her young age, is doing incredible things both on and off the tennis court. I’m proud that it was number one for so long. I wish he would return to the first step again because he is the face of tennis that appeals to me.

Also, of course, Elina Svitolina. A Ukrainian game that achieved great victories despite all the difficulties and at the same time had the courage to announce and remind the world of the war despite the hatred. For me, these are people who are more idols than elite athletes.

I love football very much, so our football men who reach the heights and play at the international level, play in national teams, sometimes create miracles – these are also my idols: Zinchenko, Yarmolenko, Mikolenko and others.

– Which Ukrainian women are you friends with? You played against Katarina Zawacka in Portugal. What kind of communication might you have had?

Marina Kolb: – In fact, we hadn’t played for about five years and had almost no contact with the tennis world, and coming from the small town of Yevpatoria, we were always away from the tennis scene. We know some girls, we meet at tournaments, we say hello, but there is no close communication. This was our first time seeing Katarina in the tournament, we had the opportunity to play with her as well, so we didn’t have a chance to chat.

– Who do you support from Ukrainian women and Ukrainians in the world of tennis and other sports?

Marina Kolb: – In general, we try to follow Ukrainian tennis and sports news. We rejoice when ours wins in any sport. It’s great that so many Ukrainian tennis players are now in the top 100, we support them. We generally support Svitolina and admire her comeback. We love watching the matches of the national football team, just like other sports. But last season we attended almost all the basketball games of the Ukrainian club Prometheus in Riga, because they are now based there.

– And probably the most interesting question: Who is the leader of your couple?

Marina Kolb: – Undoubtedly the leader is Nadya, she is older, more experienced and, in my opinion, more suitable to be a leader, not only in sports. Sometimes we fight, sometimes even on the field, but without fight there is no progress. In any situation, we are happy to have each other as partners on the field and in life.

– Nadezhda Kolb: – In some matches, we may have the upper hand. Because of my age and experience, I will probably need to be there more often. But my favorite games are the ones where Marina takes the initiative into her own hands. I’m more comfortable being number two :), – Nadezhda summarized.

Now Marina and Nadezhda are making a difficult 25,000-meter climb in Faro (Portugal). Marina failed to enter the main singles draw, losing in the 2nd qualifying round. Nadezhda defeated Maria Beatriz Teixeira in the qualifying round semi-final with sets of 6:0, 6:0. Today, October 16, she will play against Ukrainian actress Marcelina Podlinskaya. The doubles draw had not yet taken place at the time of publication.