Aleksandr Dolgopolov is a tennis legend. The Ukrainian reached number 13 in the ATP rankings, reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, and even beat Rafael Nadal.
However, his life changed when Russia, led by Putin, decided to invade Ukraine. He, a lover of his homeland, did not hesitate to put down his racket, grab a gun and head to the front line. “My conscience drove me, it said: ‘You have to do it now’. Only I had no idea about guns. So I looked for the nearest shooting range in Antalya,” the former tennis player confessed in an interview with Der Spiegel.
The harshness of war
Dolgopolov, who currently works as a drone pilot, told the German media outlet what his day-to-day life is like: “Basically, I am happy to be able to defend my country, but I want nothing more than peace. I lack inner peace and a day without news of murdered children, civilians and comrades.”
At the end of the summer of 2023, my unit was in the Zaporizhia region. We were filming the terrain with a drone when we were suddenly shot at. We jumped into a trench, but the impacts were getting closer and closer and shaking us violently. You have to understand that if grenades of this size fall less than eight meters from you, they can tear your guts out. In the end, all we could do was hope it didn’t happen to us. We were scared to death. After about 20 hits it stopped. It’s crazy when I think about it in retrospect.
The closeness to death
Being on the front line makes Dolgopolov face death constantly, although it is not something he fears: “To be honest, I’m more afraid of getting injured and having to live life as an invalid. If I could choose, I’d rather be dead.”
Aleksandr has seen about 100 comrades die through the drone’s camera, which has given him a different perspective on life and his future: “Right now I just want to survive. When a friend has his leg blown off in front of your eyes, that gives you a new perspective on life. I don’t wish this experience on anyone.”
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