KOSTYUK: “I won’t be able to do my job if I’m guided by emotions”

Ukrainian tennis player Marta Kostyuk in an interview for Vogue Ukraine, she summarized the results of the season, talked about the injury before the US Open Championship, and also spoke about her psychological and physical state:

“To be honest, I have never felt so fresh at the end of the season in my entire career. I always worked until exhaustion. And now I understand that it will not be like that. Tennis players have a rather short career, so you need to live it with excitement, get pleasure, and not suffer and wait for everything to end. I like the way I’m playing now, the mood I’m in and the way I enjoy my work.

Injury before the US Open at the tournament in Montreal? I played a very cool draw against Kasatkina in the tiebreak in the third set. And fell on the racket directly on the wrist. Severing ties – I had a difficult period.

Emotions? I will not be able to do my job if I am driven by emotions. Great tension and pressure do not allow to remain in a state of rest. You raise your pulse to the maximum, strive for victory, all this – in front of thousands of stands. Of course, this is a colossal stress. But just like the force of the blow, I also train my reactions. It’s a lifetime job. It won’t end when I stop playing tennis.

All high level players can play tennis. But a lot of things are decided by your psyche. Eastern European differs from Western. It is simply not customary for us to work on our psychological state and take care of it. It’s good that something is changing now.

Would I like to be more relaxed in general? No. I am open to all emotions – both good and not so good. This is a cool process of life. For me, the most valuable thing is to see how I change, how I grow and develop.

Rating? This is only a consequence of actions, efforts, matches. Therefore, I try to concentrate on the process, on how I work every day. After all, the result is made up of all these days.

I have goals in charity, in the work of my foundation, in sports results. But I wonder where I’ll end up in the end. This unknown is the most interesting thing. Therefore, I concentrate on what I can actually do every day, I want to move on and just live.”