Ahead of the French Open appearance, Marta Kostyuk opened up about suffering from an eating disorder in her younger years. In her WTA Tour so far, the Ukrainian tennis player has won three titles, including the 2023 ATX Open and two in 2026.
Kostyuk began playing tennis at the age of five under her mother, Talina Beiko’s coaching. Alongside gymnastics, Kostyuk also alongside tennis, she also played gymnastics for seven years before completely turning to the racket sport at the age of 11. Ahead of her French Open participation this year, she highlighted the impact of gymnastics on her.
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Marta Kostyuk remembered that although the sport helped her to gain the required physical attributes for tennis, it also took a toll on her physical and mental strength. She mentioned that since the sport required specific physical standards, she had to be conscious of her body all the time, leading to eating disorder.
“It helped me a lot physically, but I also had to deal with many consequences afterward because it’s an extremely strict sport. From a very young age, I had to be very careful with my weight and food. I would weigh myself twenty or thirty times a day when I was eight or ten years old, and that leaves significant mental scars.”
Further, the Ukrainian player emphasised that she has now been in a good place after overcoming the difficult period.
“I also suffered a very serious injury when I was young, and it took me a long time to overcome all of that, but today I feel like I’m in a much better place, and I’m grateful to have gone through that experience.” (via tennis365.com)
Marta Kostyuk will begin her French Open run against Oksana Selekhmeteva.
Marta Kostyuk explains why she refused to participate in the players’ protest at the 2026 French Open
Marta Kostyuk revealed the reason why she is not participating in the protest staged by players like Coco Gauff, Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Jannik Sinner, and Alexander Zverev. She said that although she understands the cause for the protest, she was never a part of the conversation, and so she prefers to fulfill her media commitments at the Roland Garros Tournament.
“I’m aware of the conversation that’s happening and I fully respect the athletes for bringing these issues up and fighting for them,” Kostyuk said. “I think it’s very important for the future of tennis , but I’ve never been part of this conversation. I’m aware of it, but I’ve never been there .”
“It’s difficult, tennis is a unique sport and it’s difficult to compare it to team sports and their competitions, because tennis has these multiple parts [referring to the ATP and WTA associations , the ITF and the Grand Slams ]. I think this conversation is super important, but I will be fulfilling all my obligations this week. I’m excited to be here and that’s it.” (via tenisnews.com)
The players protested against the 15% revenue of the tournament being assigned to the pool prize, while demanding for 22%. They limited their media appearances to 15 minutes during the press conference of the Clay-court Grand Slam.
Edited by Janhavi Shinde
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