Marta Kostyuk Reveals How She Stops Herself From Falling Into Old Habits After Reaching Wimbledon Quarterfinals

Marta Kostyuk is one of the serious contenders for Wimbledon. She is playing the best tennis of her career, given that she not only has won two titles from three finals, but also reached her career’s first Grand Slam semifinal at the French Open.

Kostyuk, after losing the Brisbane International final to World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka, lifted her career’s first clay-court title in the Open de Rouen (beat countrywoman Veronika Podrez). She then defeated reigning French Open champion Mirra Andreeva in the Madrid Open final. Andreeva took her revenge by knocking out the 24-year-old in the French Open semifinal.

And then at Wimbledon, the Ukrainian ace will be playing the quarterfinals for the first time in her career. Kostyuk, after her fourth-round win, was asked at the press conference about the mental work she has done behind the scenes that’s helping her stop herself from falling into the old habits of associating her self-worth with the results of her matches.

She talked about the deep work that she has done to understand herself on a very basic human level.

For sure, different things can happen in life. Something can happen, I can go back into old habits. But I’ve worked really hard not to do it. I spoke about it in Paris. I said changing these habits was the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to experience or do. For me, playing tennis is much easier than doing this. Because it takes much longer to get better at. It takes much more work, much more self-awareness.

Before this year, Kostyuk had never made it past the third round of Wimbledon. In the fourth round, she clinched a straight-set win over Ashlyn Krueger.

It’s the same thing when you have huge success when you’re young and a lot of new things happen to you, and you have no idea how to deal with it. Once you know what it takes to get there, once you’ve done it a couple times, you kind of know what to expect a little bit, and of course it makes things probably less exciting, but more stable.

Marta Kostyuk added

Kostyuk has never played a final on grass. She also did not play a warm-up tournament on the surface before arriving at Wimbledon.

Marta Kostyuk will face Jasmine Paolini in the Wimbledon quarterfinals

Jasmine Paolini has made it clear that she is expecting nothing but tough competition in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon, where she is set to play against Marta Kostyuk. Paolini, who ended defending champion Iga Swiatek‘s conqueror, Alexandra Eala‘s run in three sets in the fourth round, edges 2-1 in the head-to-head matchups versus Kostyuk.

She’s a very tough opponent. She’s playing great tennis this year. She has improved a lot. She can be very aggressive. She’s a great athlete. She moves very well on the court. It’s going to be a tough, very tough match. We have to prepare well and observe her playing style on grass a bit.

Jasmine Paolini said at the press conference

Paolini will be playing the quarterfinals at SW19 for the second time in her career. The first time she reached the stage, in 2024, she also made the championship clash, losing it to Barbora Krejcikova.

The Italian ace, a two-time Grand Slam singles finalist, has yet to make another final on grass since that Wimbledon run in 2024. She has also not yet reached a final this year, last winning a title in last year’s Italian Open and last playing a final in last year’s Cincinnati Open. The winner of Kostyuk versus Paolini will face Linda Noskova or Elise Mertens.

Also read: Flavio Cobolli Recreates Cristiano Ronaldo’s Iconic ‘Siuuu’ Celebration After Reaching Wimbledon Quarterfinals