Miami’s lone Ukrainian athlete, aided by team, copes with Russia’s attack on homeland
Groundstrokes and volleys and overheads and serves are the least of University of Miami tennis player Diana Khodan’s current concerns.
Not since Russia attacked the Ukraine, where Khodan and her family are from.
Not since her grandfather lay in a hospital for the past month with COVID.
Not since the reality that her older brother and father could be called to fight for their country, leaving her mother alone in their western Ukraine city of Ivano-Frankivsk, where the nearby airport was bombed Thursday.
“Yeah, I’m gonna lie if I’m saying I’m OK and every day is OK,’’ Khodan, 20, told the Miami Herald on Monday. “All the horrible news, obviously it affects me, and not in a good way.”
Yet the focus that seems trivial in respect to a war and frightening scenarios facing Khodan nearly every waking moment is the one helping her cope with the trauma. On Sunday, three-plus days after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the No. 15 Hurricanes (7-1, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) dominated Clemson 6-1.
And the Hurricanes did it wearing blue-and-yellow decals in the shape of Ukraine over their hearts, an idea conceived by UM women’s tennis coach Paige Yaroshuk-Tews and followed through by Arielle Scavo, UM’s director of equipment operations and the daughter of UM head trainer Vinny Scavo.
Third-year sophomore Khodan, the university’s lone athlete from the Ukraine, and Israeli doubles partner Maya Tahan — ranked No. 38 as a duo — won 6-3 for the team’s opening point. Then, Khodan, who plays in the No. 6 singles spot, crushed her opponent 6-1, 6-0 after crying but holding back from breaking down during warmups.
Tennis, it turns out, has been Khodan’s escape, even as it drives her.
‘Crying too much’
“I had tears,’’ Khodan said of the warmups before Clemson, “but I feel like I’m crying too much the last few days... Right now to play against me is bad timing, because I’m like — how to describe? — kind of thinking, ‘Fight for Ukraine, for my people,’ and I’m hitting the ball as hard as I can because I want to let it go.
“I don’t even know if it’s good or bad that we did it,’’ she said of the decals. “When I saw them I kept thinking about what is going on at home. But it’s so nice that the girls are wearing my flag and supporting me. Tennis is helping me to turn my head off everything when I’m on the court and away from my phone.’’
Longtime coach Yaroshuk-Tews, a UM Sports Hall of Fame member whose teams perennially are among the best in the nation, for many years has had rosters full of international players. But she said she has never had to deal with something like this.
“The kids always talk about pressure and expectations,’’ Yaroshuk-Tews said. “I’m like, ‘Guys, if this doesn’t put all the pressure and expectations in perspective... “ Di [pronounced Dee] is talking to me about her parents preparing a bunker and then I have to flip the page and talk to Jane Doe about a forehand landing between the lines.
“It’s eye-opening. It’s mind-blowing.’’
Yaroshuk-Tews has spent weeks with Khodan discussing the escalating political situation in Russia and neighboring countries, giving the former International Tennis Federation top 100 juniors player someone with whom she can confide.
‘Heart-to-heart’
Last Thursday, before practice, the coach gathered the team for a heart-to-heart about the situation, of which they were well aware given that they, too, have discussed it. The eight players are extremely close and come from the Netherlands, Kazakhstan, Germany, England, Israel and the United States.
“Obviously, the team is very international and we talk a lot,’’ Yaroshuk-Tews said. “They’re worldly kids following world news. I told Di, ‘It’s OK. You don’t have to hold it together. You can cry. We’re your family, your team.’ I told the others, ‘It’s OK to let your emotions go, but there are also another seven players and you can be real and still laugh and help your teammate get through this.’
“Typically I say you’ve got to keep your personal issues and struggles off the court and your time on the court solely on tennis. This situation is different. It’s not a breakup with a boyfriend or bad grade. This is the first time I’ve put a patch on a UM uniform, but I felt this one hit home.
“I said, ‘Look, we’re going to accept Di in every emotion she brings to us every day.’’’
Khodan, studying art and sports administration, said her mother doesn’t work and her father, Liubomyr, 51, formerly owned a business that sold and repaired phones.
Her brother Taras, 23, is in his fifth year studying politics in a Ukrainian university, but he is “trying to get permission to get guns, weapons.”
“He says, ‘If not not I, then who? We’re all going to fight for Ukraine and not let anyone step on our land.’”
Khodan, at least through Monday, had spoken with her parents daily since the war began. Her city is about 375 miles southwest of Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital under attack. But her bombed airport is about a 15-minute drive from their home, and she said Ukrainian soldiers are stationed about a mile away. Her parents don’t speak English, and in October, visited Diana and enjoyed it so much they stretched what was supposed to be a two-week vacation to a month.
She said her mother doesn’t cry “because she realizes it may affect me.’’
“They’re trying to stay calm and hoping for the best. Obviously, I probably know more than they know because I’m on the phone and reading everything morning to night.’’
Israeli Army vet
Khodan’s doubles partner, Tahan, 23, served in the Israeli Army from age 18 to 20, and along with teammate Isabella Pfennig of Germany, is especially close with her.
“We’re trying to be tough for her,’’ Tahan told the Herald. “Di is inspiring us in how she is handling the situation. She is the kind of person always laughing and making jokes, so positive and energetic. But Sunday, when we put the [colors of] the Ukrainian flag on and then played Clemson, it was very emotional for all of us. You could tell it was a little difficult for her, but once the match started it was like normal.
“In singles she took about 30 minutes and it was all over. She’s so focused and committed to the team, which I find right now is amazing.’’
Yaroshuk-Tews recalled a situation after a match last year “where some girls weren’t doing what they should be.’’ In addressing the team, the coach looked at Khodan and said, “Di, who are you? What are you made of?’
“She was as serious as serious can be, looked me in the eyes and said, ‘I’m a fighter.’ I said, ‘OK, let’s go!’ Di is a fighter. That’s who she is. I don’t know how she’s doing it, but she’s never asked for a day off or to leave early or to be taken out of the lineup. She’s so unselfish.
“She obviously has been struggling, but she is getting through this. We talk about not being on an emotional roller coaster, but in this situation it’s OK.’’
The Hurricanes next travel to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to play No. 18 Wake Forest on Friday. Khodan expects to be there. She called her situation “scary,’’ but said she loves UM and couldn’t be in a better place.
“My friends, everyone tells me, ‘Oh, Miami — palm trees, the ocean, great weather.’ But it’s not about that. It’s about the people I’m surrounded by and the opportunity I have here. It’s about the tennis program and Paige and [associate head coach] Alex [Santos] making me better every day — not only as a tennis player but as a human being.
“Their doors are always open and they’re giving me really good advice. I really appreciate it.’’
This story was originally published March 1, 2022 at 8:00 AM.
