Marta Kostyuk admits she "hit the wall many times" and finds it "frustrating" that she hasn't been able to get the job done against the best players and take her career to a new level.
After winning her maiden WTA title in Austin two years ago, Kostyuk also broke into the top-20 for the first time in her career last year and achieved her best ranking of No. 16 in the world. At the start of the 2024 season, the Ukrainian also made her maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal at the Australian Open.
For the 2025 season, Kostyuk was probably hoping to make a louder noise at the Grand Slam level and also reach the top-10 club. But through 19 tournaments played this year, the 23-year-old is just 26-19 and she is currently sitting at No. 26 in the world.
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At the Grand Slam level, Kostyuk's best results of 2025 came at the Australian Open (lost to Paula Badosa in the third round) and the US Open (lost to Karolina Muchova in the round-of-16). The Ukrainian also had a couple of solid WTA 1000 runs, which were cut short by the likes of Aryna Sabalenka, Jessica Pegula, Zheng Qinwen, and Elena Rybakina.
Kostyuk: I was hitting the wall many, many times this year
This year I had a lot of developments outside of the court with the way I do things and the way I approach life, but I just feel I was hitting the wall many, many times this year. I lost a lot of matches to top ten players, especially in the Grand Slam tournaments. I was going far in every one and I just couldnt get over the line against these big players. Most of the time, I was really close and I just feel like as the year come to an end, it has just been frustrating," the world No. 26 told Tennis365.
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Kostyuk still described her year as "consistent," but admits she is exactly where she was a year ago.
Generally it was a good year, but somehow I ended up where I am and it was not good enough for me, for sure," the 23-year-old added.
Kostyuk is currently in Wuhan, where she said she is playing the last tournament of her 2025 season. The Ukrainian faces Muchova in the Wuhan first round.
