ROLAND GARROS

May 29, 2026

Marta Kostyuk

Press Conference

M. KOSTYUK/V. Golubic

6-4, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Marta, congratulations. What do you think gave you an advantage today on court, and what do you think you did well?

MARTA KOSTYUK: Yeah, I feel like I started really well, and then I was rushing a bit. Yeah, was tricky match. Very humid today. Just, I think everyone is feeling worse and worse with every day with this heat. I'm excited that it's not going to be like this on Sunday anymore.

Yeah, I think I had enough patience today to close this match in two sets, and yeah, just still be aggressive.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. I was wondering about your winning path, because it's 15-0 right now on clay. What has changed? I guess it's becoming your favorite surface?

MARTA KOSTYUK: Yeah, I don't think about it. I don't know. I just play match by match. It's a Grand Slam. It's a different tournament. Yeah, I'm happy with the streak, of course, but I don't think about it that much.

Q. I guess talking about Sunday, I find given your success on clay and Iga's success here in Roland Garros, I find it really just a great matchup. Curious about your thoughts and what do you think needs to be done to beat her?

MARTA KOSTYUK: Yeah, I lost to her three times, one of which was during junior years. Very excited for this match. I wanted to play her in a while.

Yeah, she loves to play here, obviously, but, you know, I have every chance. You know, I'm an underdog in this match, for sure. I'm gonna go out there and enjoy it as much as I can.

Q. There was an incident, I think it might have been before or during your match, when Zeynep Sonmez, she ran to the back of the court and ran into kind of like the advertising billboard, hurt her foot and had to retire. It's happened a few times, I think. Blockx also had to retire due to the court cover. Curious if you have had any issues with that over the years, just when you run into the back of the court, being wary of the obstacles you have to navigate?

MARTA KOSTYUK: Yeah, I witnessed two injuries like this before, which was Goffin here. And Flipkens in Abu Dhabi, I was watching this match and she also, like, stepped on this thing.

Yeah, it's terrible. I had one moment in the previous match when she played really, like, deep lob, and I was really far back. Usually I just let it go. I don't, you know, play this ball fully because I prefer to lose the point than, like, get injured.

Yeah, I don't know. It happened a few times when we were in Jean Bouin. We were passing by, and Reilly Opelka was practicing, and he was standing on this thing as he was returning serves on the practice. We were looking at it, and I was, like, This doesn't look good. It's really dangerous.

And I'm obviously very sorry for Zeynep. Hopefully it's nothing very serious. It happened a few times.

I try to be very careful with this. I'm aware of it, and I just let it go. I don't know what can be done with it. I don't think much you can do, but...

Q. Do you think they should be removed?

MARTA KOSTYUK: I don't know. Honestly, I feel like there are some rules that no matter what happens, they just cannot be changed, and no matter how much you speak about it or how much you fight over it, it's just the rules. I don't know. I cannot say.

Q. I'm wondering what sort of, you know, reactions and support you have gotten from back home during this streak, also during this week in terms of that sort of helps you connect and understand how people are watching you back in a tough part of the world. And also, I'm sure you've seen Oliynykova's very outspoken comments about the situation, and I was just curious what you thought of her and her outspokenness.

MARTA KOSTYUK: So answering first question, I always feel the support and I try to feel it especially when I lose. I was very happy to see, again, so many Ukrainian flags, Ukrainian people screaming in the crowd. It's always nice for people to follow, to find time, and to become fans of tennis is something I'm always happy about.

Answering second question, well, I fully agree with everything she says. I have been doing that in the beginning of the war. I just felt like I have done everything I could, and, you know, if she's gonna get some success over this stance, this being so outspoken, I'm all for it.

I just really don't have energy to fight this anymore. I have done it for over one-and-a-half year, and it was difficult for me.

You know, if it's something that, you know, she feels like she should be doing, I'm fully supportive of this. I don't think she says anything bad about anyone. She's usually just talking about facts and what actually happened, which I don't think it's ever a bad thing.

Yeah, I'm incredibly impressed also how she's managing to separate those things. I listened to the whole press conference, and how she said, Yeah, it doesn't bother me at all on the court, like, all I think about is playing tennis. And I was, like, Wow, congrats.

I really couldn't do it back then, I could not separate it. And she's doing it, and congrats. I mean, it's very impressive, all I can say. Obviously, she's also much younger than I was back then -- much older than I was back then. Yeah, I'm rooting for her in this.

Q. The match against Iga, I'm not sure you're an underdog. You are on really great shape. You're defending your status now after Madrid, for example. And Iga's reclaimed her dominance now, I think. How do you see the change in the dynamic about this?

MARTA KOSTYUK: I don't know. I definitely have a different feeling going into this match, because I feel like last time that I played her in Cincinnati, I lost this match way before it even started, and I don't feel the same this time.

But I'm still, you know, I'm still the person who lost to her three times, and she's won this tournament four times. So it's, like, you know, I would love to be the one who is a favorite in this match, but I still don't think it's the case, even though I have this really long streak.

But it's not going to, you know, ruin my day or ruin my game. I still want to go out and try my best and enjoy. Like, I have never taken a set off her. Even if I win one set in the next match, I'm going to be very happy. That's how I look at it, and I'm excited for this match.

Q. There is a lot of Polish journalists here, that's why I want to ask about your coach, Sandra Zaniewska. I know you talk a lot about her, but can you please repeat what she did for you and what has she changed and what's the funniest and most enjoyable thing about working with her?

MARTA KOSTYUK: Well, I think that we are both able to be who we are. We never, you know, if there is something that we want to say, whether it's good or bad, we always have this freedom to say it.

I think we have very similar sense of humor, so that definitely helps, because we make a lot of very stupid jokes, which probably only us that understand it. I don't know. I mean, we even have, like, she has notes in her phone that whenever we say something really, like, it has to be written down, and we have it, like, from every year and from different situations, so sometimes we go over them and it's, like, always hilarious.

Yeah, I think these are, like, the biggest ones, but I would say we both have, like we try to have very, you know, long perspective on whatever I do.

That helps to not be, like, overwhelmed with, you know, current tournament or me not playing good enough, because we always think, like, Okay, it's not going to matter at all in one year, even in one month, it's going to be, like, gone.

That helps to just not create this pressure of, like, when something is not working, and generally, yeah, I think she's a great person. Everyone should subscribe to her Substack. That's all I can say.

Q. You said back in Madrid or something that one way you have kind of come to understand clay is by viewing each tournament and all the conditions differently, rather than all as one kind of thing. How have you approached Roland Garros, the conditions here, the sun, and how different is it to, say, in Madrid?

MARTA KOSTYUK: Yeah, Madrid is much faster. The points were much shorter, for sure. This is a good thing.

But here, yeah, it's very slow. If you are, like, running well, which the past, like, both of my, Katie and Viktorija, they are both hustlers, they run, they play the balls back, and you have to create this point, you have to find your opportunity to finish the point, you cannot rush.

And I think this was really difficult in the sense that I love to play aggressive, I want to come to the net, but here I need to really take time.

I think this is the biggest difference that it's really, really slow. But I love that there is a high bounce so I can, you know, do different things that, you know, I get more advantage from this height.

Other than that, I mean, it was really hot, as well. I think it's going to be much slower on Sunday, like, than all of these matches that I have played. It's going to be even slower. It's going to be a cool match.