Marta followed the example of Elina Svitolina to cope with emotions
The first racket of Ukraine Marta Kostyuk spoke about how she prepares herself for matches against tennis players from the aggressor countries of Russia and Belarus.
“One of the primary problems with which I came to a psychologist at the beginning of a full-scale war was that I could not treat tennis as a job. Therefore, it was clear that it was very difficult for me to play with the Russians and Belarusians. All I saw in front of me: I was like a bull and there was a red rag in front of me. In such a state, you cannot do your job well, no matter how much you want to win.”
“An example later was Elina Svitolina, when she returned and beat everyone there at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. It showed her true professionalism, the way she could separate the emotions, the hatred she had for them that I couldn’t separate. She did it very professionally, and it was a very good example.
Now I cope with this much better, I no longer separate who is who. I know that in any case I want to win against everyone. It’s not that I don’t want to win so much against the French woman. Therefore, now I still treat all matches seriously with professionalism, and then how will it be.”
“I don’t like playing against Ukrainians, but sometimes there is no way out. Of course, one of us will go further, and who will definitely win, but it’s more fun when more of us go further.”
Kostyuk ended the current season after the WTA 1000 tournament in Wuhan, where she reached the third round. Marta remains the first racket of Ukraine, occupying 18th place in the world ranking.
Source: Sportarena
I’m Todderic Kirkman, a journalist and author for athletistic. I specialize in covering all news related to sports, ranging from basketball to football and everything in between. With over 10 years of experience in the industry, I have become an invaluable asset to my team. My ambition is to bring the most up-to-date information on sports topics around the world.
