Marta Kostyuk has the talent to become one of the big superstars of tennis over the next few weeks and the time has come for the Ukrainian to believe she deserves to be at the top.<\/p>\n
Her first WTA 1000 title at the Madrid Open may be seen as overdue for a player who has long been tipped to scale the heights in the game, but may have lacked the mental strength required to become a champion.<\/p>\n
Kostyuk may be the best mover on a tennis court in all of women\u2019s tennis, with her greatest strength coming to the fore during her hugely impressive run in Madrid.<\/p>\n
Her ability to get the ball back into play when she appeared to be out of points was a recurring theme throughout her run in Madrid, with his ball striking so impressively when the moment came to strike.<\/p>\n
The way she closed out her final against Mirra Andreeva to win the biggest title of her career was evidence that her reputation for being crippled by nerves in big moments can be controlled and the confidence she needs to take from her breakthrough win needs to be the springboard for so much more.<\/p>\n
Marta Kostyuk\u2019s perfect backflip as she reveals story behind \u2018lucky\u2019 underwear<\/a><\/p>\n WTA Rankings Winners & Losers Madrid Open: Rybakina closes gap to Sabalenka, Swiatek overtakes Gauff, Eala +2<\/a><\/p>\n She might not entirely believe this sentiment, but Kostyuk is a now big contender to win her first Grand Slam title at the French Open and she needs to take inspiration from her performances in Madrid when she lands at Roland Garros later this month.<\/p>\n In the past, she hasn\u2019t always had that mental strength to push for victory, but maybe the time has now come for Kostyuk to go to the next level.<\/p>\n Her widely misinterpreted exclusive interview with Tennis365 in Wuhan last year included comments that admitted she felt some of her opponents were \u201cbigger and stronger\u201d than her highlighted a mindset when she takes on players like Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek, but the truth is Kostyuk has an athleticism that is more than good enough to match the best in women\u2019s tennis.<\/p>\n Add in some winning confidence to the weapons she has at her disposal and she will be a threat to win on any surface, with her comments after her win in Madrid highlighting her desire to ensure the big win in Madrid is the start of a new chapter in her story.<\/p>\n \u201cIt took me many years to reach this point, and one word I think about right now is consistency,\u201d said Kostyuk after her win in Madrid, in a post-match speech where she also admitted she had come close to giving up tennis on numerous occasions.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s showing up every day, no matter how hard it is, no matter how much you love or hate what you do.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been doing that really well the past few years, I think, so I\u2019m very proud of myself and my team.\u201d<\/p>\n Kostyuk will rise to No 15 in the WTA Rankings after her Madrid Open triumph and she has to look at what she had produced in this tournament and accept that she belongs in the top 10 and among the contenders for all the big titles.<\/p>\n If this triumph doesn\u2019t encourage her to embrace her position as one of the best players and shining stars of women\u2019s tennis, nothing will.<\/p>\n Yet her press conference in Madrid suggested her ambitions, especially when it comes to her ranking, is a little more modest.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t focus on the rankings. My goal, not even my goal, but I was, I would be very happy if I finished clay court season in top 20,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t think about, you know, a specific number or anything. I just wanted to be as consistent as possible. I didn\u2019t think about it.<\/p>\n \u201cI still don\u2019t think about the ranking, because ranking is just a consequence of what you do on the court. Yeah, nothing changes.<\/p>\n \u201cProbably I\u2019ll get a bit better draws, but, you know, at the end, all the players are super solid and really good. So I don\u2019t focus on that. As I said, I just want to keep working and enjoying.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s time to believe you belong at the top Marta, as your win in Madrid banishes the theory that you cannot match the best physically and mentally when it matters most.<\/p>\n READ NEXT: What Marta Kostyuk and Mirra Andreeva said after Madrid Open final<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The post Madrid Open: Marta Kostyuk needs to erase the major factor holding her back after breakthrough win<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Marta Kostyuk has the talent to become one of the big superstars of tennis over the next few weeks and the time has come for the Ukrainian to believe she deserves to be at the top. Her first WTA 1000 title at the Madrid Open may be seen as overdue for a player who has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2124\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Want more from Tennis365? 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