Marta Kostyuk’s perfect backflip as she reveals story behind ‘lucky’ underwear
Marta Kostyuk produced two iconic moments after winning her maiden WTA 1000 title at the Madrid Open and one of those involved lifting a pair of underwear during the post-match trophy presentation ceremony.
The 23-year-old is in the form of her life as just a fortnight after winning her second WTA Tour singles event by beating fellow Ukrainian Veronika Podrez in the WTA 250 Open de Rouen final, she won the biggest trophy in the Spanish capital.
After shocking fifth-seed Jessica Pegula in the third round, the 26th-seeded Kostyuk went all the way as she defeated ninth-seed Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 7-5 in the Madrid Open final to capture her third title.
And she celebrated by doing a perfect backflip on Court Manolo Santana at Caja Magica and it is only the third time that she has produced her gymnastic skills at a tournament, as it only comes out when she wins an event.
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What Marta Kostyuk and Mirra Andreeva said after Madrid Open final
“I did gymnastics for seven years and played tennis at the same time. When I win a tournament, I do it,” she explained.
Later during the ceremony, there was another unusual moment as she was joined on court by her team and her two dogs and while they posed for pictures, they held up a piece of men’s black underwear.
The garment has proven to be a lucky charm.
“We have a tournament laundry service and sometimes the clothes get mixed up and last year we ended up with this piece of underwear where in it was written ‘Lucky Shorts’. So we kept it,” Kostyuk told Spain’s Movistar Plus.
“My coach Sandra [Zaniewska] kept it as a lucky charm.
“She drove to her father’s house just to pick it up before travelling here again for the tournament. And we made this promise that if I’d win we would bring the ‘Lucky Shorts’ for the photoshoot with the trophy.”
Although only 23 years old, Kostyuk has been playing top-level tennis for a decade as she turned pro in 2016. The following year, she won the Australian Open Girls’ title, beating reigning world No 2 Elena Rybakina in the semi-final and Rebeka Masarova in the final.
But it took a while for junior success to translate to senior level, as her first WTA singles title only arrived in 2023, but one has now turned into three in the space of three weeks and that is no doubt down to changing her mindset.
“At the beginning of this year, I told my team that I finally felt that the achievements I had at 14 and 15 no longer weighed on me,” she said.
“For a long time, I lived with everyone’s expectations, as if those early results had almost been a burden. When I freed myself from that, everything changed. I’m very proud of what I accomplished as a young player, but now I can enjoy tennis.”
CUE THE BACKFLIP 🤩@marta_kostyuk races to her FIRST career WTA 1000 title with a straight sets win over Andreeva!#MMOPEN pic.twitter.com/sRIJwo8u9M
— wta (@WTA) May 2, 2026
Kostyuk started the tournament at No 23 in the WTA Rankings, but her title run has earned her an eight-place jump to a new career-high of No 15.
“I don’t focus on the ranking. It would have made me happy to finish the clay court season in the top 20, but I don’t dwell on specific numbers,” the Ukrainian said.
“The ranking is a consequence of what you do on the court. Maybe I have better draws now, but all the players are very strong. I want to keep working and enjoying.”
