Ukrainian Tennis Player Sergiy Stakhovsky Left His Family To Fight For Country

When the going gets tough, some athletes pick up their ball and go home.

Former Wimbledon champ Sergiy Stakhovsky is picking up his 20-lb set and heading home to defend Ukraine's sovereignty — bracing for the despotism of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his troops.

The Ukrainian and former tennis player made a decision last week to surrender a life he had built to keep his country from crumbling.

In an interview with the BBC, Stakhovsky called from Ukraine amid the ongoing siege to discuss his harrowing decision to fight alongside Ukrainian forces — forced to leave tennis, his family and liberty behind.

ZAPORIZHZHIA, UKRAINE - MARCH 6, 2020 - Sergiy Stakovsky of Ukraine is seen in action with Chun Hsin Tseng of Chinese Taipei during the Davis Cup World Group I First Round Play-Offs tie at the Yunist Palace of Sports, Zaporizhzhia, southeastern Ukraine. - PHOTOGRAPH BY Ukrinform / Future Publishing (Photo credit should read Dmytro Smolyenko/ Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

"It's very hard to explain even for myself, but I just couldn't do any different. I just couldn't see all the people putting themselves in harm's way, sending their wives and children away to the borderline and just staying behind."

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