Marta Kostyuk's excellent 2024 became slightly less cheerful after her car was broken into during the off-season.
The Ukrainian enjoyed a breakthrough season this year. She began with a career-best run at a Grand Slam, reaching the quarterfinal of the Australian Open before losing a scrappy match to Coco Gauff at that stage.
Kostyuk's first tournament of the North American hardcourt season in February and March was successful. The 22-year-old finished as the runner-up to Katie Boulter at the San Diego Open despite winning the opening set of the final.
That was followed by a run to the Indian Wells Open semifinal, her best performance at a WTA 1000 event. The young star's victories in California included an excellent display against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the round of 16.
Kostyuk avenged her loss to Gauff at the Australian Open by winning one of the season's best matches in the quarterfinal of the Stuttgart Grand Prix in April. A titanic battle filled with unbelievable shot-making was decided in a final set tiebreak. Elena Rybakina beat her in the final in Stuttgart.
Although she continued to perform consistently, Kostyuk could not sustain the level she had reached in the opening months of the season. Still, the Ukrainian finished 2024 at No. 18, two places below her career high.
Kostyuk deserved a break during the off-season after a long and grueling year on the WTA Tour. Unfortunately, a criminal decided to cause her stress while she was in Milan, Italy.
In an Instagram story, the Indian Wells Open semifinalist showed a picture of the rear window of her car left shattered after someone broke into it. Kostyuk sarcastically thanked the individual for their action.
"Expensive trip to Milano. Whoever did this - God bless you. Truly."
Despite the unpleasant situation, Kostyuk still tried to retain her sense of humor. She remarked that the criminal responsible clearly did not like sports since her tennis gear was left untouched in the trunk.
"Clearly they are not into sports."
Sadly, this is not the first time a player has been robbed this year. Diego Schwartzman suffered the same fate in October while practicing. In February, the 32-year-old will retire from tennis at next year's Argentina Open in Buenos Aires.
Unlike Kostyuk, Schwartzman could not find any humor in the situation. The former French Open semifinalist responded to the news by saying he loves Argentina, but such incidents are highly frustrating.
Another incident involved Sebastian Korda at the Monte Carlo Masters. The American had a luxury watch worth around €300,000 stolen by two robbers, who then fled the scene on a scooter.
Fortunately, Korda was only shaken by the incident and not physically harmed. Such incidents are quite shocking and remind us of the unique danger tennis players face as public figures.
Hopefully, there will be less of these incidents next year. There are already enough talking points in the tennis world, such as Iga Swiatek accepting a one-month ban for a positive doping test without players being victims of robberies in tournaments or during the off-season.