THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 4, 2026

Marta Kostyuk

Press Conference

M. KOSTYUK/E. Navarro

6-2, 4-6, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Marta, another nice win this afternoon. Could you talk us through the match today, please.

MARTA KOSTYUK: Yeah, I think it was a good match. Even the second set, the one I lost, I feel like it was just a matter of few points didn't go my way. But overall happy with the performance, for sure.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. This is the first time you have been to the fourth round of this tournament. Is that a sign to go with the rest of your career at the moment? You have been breaking new ground all year. Do you feel different when you come into the tournaments, regardless of which one they are now?

MARTA KOSTYUK: Maybe. I don't know. Not here, for sure, because I didn't have good record coming into this tournament. I had zero expectations, honestly. Still do.

Q. Did that help?

MARTA KOSTYUK: Yeah, I think it helps. I feel like the higher your ranking is, the more people expect of you, opponents expect of you to play good. You're always supposed to feel good. You're never supposed to feel tired or injured or whatever. You always have to be out there performing on the highest level.

Not having expectations is probably easier at this point. I don't know if I'm going to be able to hold it longer. It's going to be great. But every tournament is different, everything is different.

Q. Something you said on court, I think you said something like, I never thought I would be in the fourth round of Wimbledon.

MARTA KOSTYUK: Yeah.

Q. When I heard that, I thought, Really? Is that true? First of all, you're so young. Second of all, you have been pretty good at tennis for a while. Was it really not a concept that you would ever be able to find that level of success here? And why or why not?

MARTA KOSTYUK: I mean, I feel like a lot of years that I played here, I played horrendous. I could not find my tennis on this surface, on any tournament. Never went further than round of 16, even on like 250s or 500s. So it was, like, really, it was really complicated relationship for me with this surface. Yeah, same thing was with Wimbledon.

I was practicing with Jessica last week, and I was not playing good. I lost almost all the practice sets that I had. I lost to Serena. I lost to Jess. I lost to everyone that I was practicing with. I turned to Sandra, and I go, Can you please tell me, honestly, right now, if you think that grass suits my game.

She said, 100%.

I tried to find something to hold onto, because I wasn't even feeling great during practice week. You know, I just try to take it match by match.

And obviously I feel good now. I think this is one of the reasons why I never thought I'm going to make it to the fourth round here.

Q. Are you aware of sort of, like, the recent history and players that have not had great success on grass? I'm not talking about Iga winning, but Paolini going to the final and I guess Iga winning. There are others who, you know, had never thought of this as their place before.

MARTA KOSTYUK: Yeah.

Q. Does that encourage you in any way? People always talk about the surface changing and becoming more like other surfaces, slowing down...

MARTA KOSTYUK: Well, I didn't believe I could be one of these miracle runs, you know, that appear out of nowhere that other players had.

But yeah, I mean, again, I was really focusing on just going out there and trying to do my best and, you know, see how it goes.

I had very nice match in the second round. I had very nice match today. Honestly, you know, I could lose both of them. But I was still very happy with the way I played and the way I felt on the court.

I was, like, I told Sandra in the morning today, I was like, I'm actually excited to be back next year on this surface, because I kind of know what to do. Doesn't mean I'm going to play great next year or whatever, but at least I have this excitement of actually coming back here.

Q. It seems like you're handling nearly every match you can turn because of your last results and month. I would like to know if you feel inside that you're now capable of bigger things and more stable on this phase, or it's just a moment that you're living and it's doing well?

MARTA KOSTYUK: Well, I think the biggest difference is that I just try not to focus on the outcome and what I actually want to do on the court.

As I said, like, I want to enjoy it 100%. And it was working out pretty well the past few months. It's still work in progress.

But again, you know, winning and losing, you know, it's always there. You can win everything, and in one month people forget about it you. You cannot tie yourself and your self-worth to how you perform on the court, because eventually all this goes away. When your career is finished, like, I mean, I was thinking about it, that the greatest players of all time, even now, people talk less and less about them.

It's fine. It's how life should be. But that's my point of even when you're a legendary player, everyone still kind of forgets about you. And you kind of have to move on and live your life without all this success and attention and everything that tennis has given you.

I try not to, you know, tie myself to this and just try to go out there and play tennis, because I love to do it.

Q. What do you know about Ashlyn Krueger, your next opponent, and probably not who you expected to see?

MARTA KOSTYUK: I wouldn't say so. I'm not very, very surprise, yeah, that she made it to the fourth round. I think she has big serve and is good on grass.

I played her in the beginning of last year when I was coming back from my injury, and I was very, very far from 100%. I lost in three sets in Adelaide, but it was a good match.

So it's going to be interesting. But, I mean, I played her in a little bit different conditions, and I felt different, so I think it's going to be a great match.

Q. I was wondering how you currently feel compared with how you felt at this stage in Paris? Clay season, you won Madrid, you came in as one of the favorites, you had a big win over Swiatek. Here you didn't play for three weeks. How do you feel now compared to how you felt in Paris at this stage?

MARTA KOSTYUK: Well, 100% better. And as I said, I had two really good matches, and I feel good. I had also two doubles matches, which also helps. Some extra practice on grass never hurts.

Yeah, it's good. I mean, I still take it day by day.

Q. Just to pick up on the point you said about almost looking forward to it for next year because you now know how to play on this surface. Was there a moment that it clicked? I spoke to Richard Krajicek, who won this tournament. For years he struggled to move on it, and then he figured out. What is it like for you?

MARTA KOSTYUK: I wish I knew an answer to this question, but I don't (smiling).

I don't know. I think just really being kinder to myself and just being open to try. Because first few days I was really, like, in some sort of desperation, 'cause I was, like, I feel like no matter what I do on this surface, I'm going to, like, fail. It was difficult to just handle this, you know, and enjoy and just try to give myself the best chance.

Probably when I gave myself that space and freedom to, like, okay, even if you fail, just give yourself at least a chance to try. It worked out, I guess.

Q. How did you pick Hydra as a holiday spot? It's very quiet, off the beaten path. How did you pick it?

MARTA KOSTYUK: Well, I was looking where to go, and then I had very random meeting with my stylist, and I told her that I want to go to Greece. And she visited a lot of them. She said, Oh, you should go to Hydra. You're going to love it.

I started talking to her about different islands. I went to Mykonos once, and I didn't like it at all. Very loud, not what I really needed at that time. I didn't want to go to also all these famous islands, because I feel they are super overpriced and just no aura, you know (smiling).

So I went there, and it was unbelievable. It was great.