Marta Kostyuk believes she belongs at the highest level of tennis after her semi-final defeat at Roland Garros to Mirra Andreeva.
The Ukrainian’s winning streak ended at 17 matches as she lost 6-1 6-3 to the eighth seed as she missed out on a first Grand Slam final.
Kostyuk never really had control of the match as Andreeva played aggressive tennis to reach the final four.
However, as mentioned it has been an incredible clay court season with Kostyuk winning 17 matches on the bounce which included titles in Rouen and Madrid.
Speaking after her semi-final defeat Kostyuk admitted she was ‘happy’ with her clay court season and praised Andreeva’s performance, “For sure, my streak. I take it with me to the grave,” Kostyuk jokingly started her press conference by saying.
“Yeah, very happy with my clay court season, just one loss. I mean, I would never believe if someone told me this couple months ago. Yeah, very happy. I think that this court suits her best of all the tournaments that exist, and I never played her here. So obviously seeing her record since she’s been 15 or 16 years old, you know, playing here, I saw at the screen that her record here is 16-3. I came into this tournament being like 4-7, you know.
“So clearly not my best court. You know, it really suits her game. The wind helped a lot today. I didn’t start the best, but, you know, it happens. I mean, everyone wins; everyone loses. It’s part of the game. It’s, at the end of the day, it’s just a game. Yeah, she played good today. She played solid. She wasn’t missing. You know, I was missing more. Obviously felt pressure. She was serving much better today. I couldn’t do a lot, because the court is crazy slow, and she was retrieving all the balls.
“So I felt like I had to go for more. Obviously, that was what was making me make more mistakes. That’s it.”
Although Kostyuk praised Andreeva’s performance it was clearly a tough day in the office for Kostyuk who was far from her best level.
The Ukrainian admitted it was a tough day as she made way too many mistakes in the contest, “I take it. You know, I had enough tough days, bad days, to know that they end. It’s not the worst thing in the world to lose a match wherever the stage is,” Kostyuk said.
“First time playing semifinals, you know, obviously had that experience, so next time when I’m in semifinals, maybe I’m going to feel better, different. I don’t know. But obviously not the greatest match from me today. But I don’t think about it that much.”
Off the court, it’s been a tough few years for Kostyuk with the war on Ukraine from Russia affecting her mindset.
The 15th seed spoke about how she managed to bring perspective into life and how that has affected her tennis in a positive way, “A lot of therapy. Yeah, I mean, I think when the full-scale war started, I realized I needed to change my perspective on life, because it’s clearly not just tennis,” Kostyuk admitted.
“There is a lot of other things that’s happening. Then this long process began, and it’s been over four years now. I feel like the most important thing for me was that I had an intention of what kind of career I want to have, what kind of player and person I want to be, and I slowly moved towards that direction that I set myself. I’m arriving there, where I want to be and how I want to be. You know, I told Sandra before the tournament, I said, Honestly, the battles that I have won against myself and in my head, you know, Grand Slams is nothing comparing to it.
“Nothing. I think to myself, you know, I went through such an incredible journey of becoming a different player, different person. Really, playing tennis is very easy. It’s really easy. I think it’s just great to feel this way and to keep living this life, you know. I don’t know how long for I’m going to be still here and playing tennis. So I try to enjoy it to the fullest.”
Kostyuk will now hope she can continue this form as she heads to the grass court season and looks to continue her improvement at Wimbledon.
The Ukrainian said that she believes she belongs at this level and is relieved she doesn’t have to think about a winning streak, “Well, if I’m there, probably I belong,” Kostyuk claimed.
“I don’t know. I think in tennis, it’s one thing to get somewhere; the other thing is to stay there. My goal is to, you know, to be a consistent player and to not get injured, because it’s also very difficult to stay healthy and, you know, just keep growing, keep becoming better player, better person. That’s it.
“If my ranking is going to be better, it means I deserve it. I made it there. I don’t know. Again, it’s one thing to make it to somewhere; the other thing is to really stay there for a long time. For sure, I think what I’m most happy with is that I first changed, and then this streak came. Not that the streak came and then I changed. I already enjoyed playing, and I enjoyed being at tournaments before the streak began.
“And now, not having the streak anymore, you know, I’m the same. I still enjoy being here, going next week to Queen’s, going to Wimbledon, you know, and just keep trying to, you know, play tennis and bring on the show, and that’s it.”
At last year’s Wimbledon, Kostyuk lost in the first round to Veronika Erjavec.
