Marta Kostyuk interview: Why Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek have a big advantage over me
Marta Kostyuk sat down with Tennis365 for an extended interview at the Wuhan Open, with her honesty shining through as she reflected on the highs and lows of her 2025 season.
In this slice of our exclusive interview, Kostyuk talks about her battles with Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek and the advantages she feels the highest ranked players in the women’s game have over her.
Are you satisfied with your season?
Not entirely. You know, I will see where the year comes to an end, but this is the time when you look back at all the things you have done and what you could have done better. I think this year there are a lot of improvements outside of the court in the way I live my life, the way I approach life. So there is a lot of positives from this year but also some problems like injuries and defeats in close matches.
You seem to have a few regrets from the 2025 season?
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I just feel like I was hitting the wall a lot of times this year, losing a lot of matches to top 10 players. In a lot of matches I was really close and I couldn’t get over the line. o as the year comes to an end, it is frustrating. It was a really consistent year and that is a good sign. I feel like I need to take the last few steps to overcome this. It’s important that you really believe in what you do and believe it will happen for you. There are a lot, a lot of positive this year, but things I need to figure out. This year, it has felt like there was obstacle after obstacle after obstacle. I wasn’t very lucky with the draws. Generally it was a good year, but somehow, I ended up where I am. It was a decent year, but not good enough for me.
When you play (Aryna) Sabalenka and (Iga) Swiatek, how close do you feel you are? What makes them a little better? Their consistency or their mental strength?
With Iga, when I have played her, I wasn’t ready to play her at all. I played her over a year ago. With Aryna (Sabalenka), I don’t know, to be honest. When I look at these players, I have my own skills, but at the end of the day, they are all much bigger than me, much taller than me, much stronger than me. We all have different biological structure. Some have a higher level of testosterone, some have lower. I know players who are good players who have higher levels of it. It’s just natural, they don’t take anything. I’m sure of that. It’s just the biology of their body. Obviously, that definitely helps. I’m trying to see how I can beat these players with the tennis skills I have, but I have to work more than they have to win the points. I need to run a lot more. I am much more of, like, an athletic player. I cannot just hit the ball hard, sweeping players out of the court with my power. I cannot make myself suddenly 10kgs bigger or five centimetres taller, so I have to find ways to use everything I have at 100 percent. For other players, they have more of an advantage in other things. This is just the way I am. My body, I’m really small. I look at the pictures when we are on the court and I look so much smaller than everyone. I cannot be bigger! It’s just part of the sport. I think it’s a very cool challenge, if I think about it. I really have to sit down and think, okay, what can I do to get make better against these players. I’m sure there are many, many things I can do better.
Are these champions mentally stronger?
Their confidence is just different as well. I have played two very close matches against Aryna and you see how she plays the break points. She just doesn’t care. She has no doubt that she’s gonna save them. She hits a big serve and hits the forehand. No doubt. She is No 1 in the world, she is very consistent, she has played a lot of finals and she has that confidence. That helps her to have no doubts. For me, I was hitting this wall this year and it was easy for me to have doubts. It is an interesting sport and I’m enjoying the journey of trying to figure it out.
