Marta Kostyuk once again revisited the incident from her match against Aryna Sabalenka that happened at the Madrid Open.
Kostyuk and Sabalenka have recently developed a small rivalry, as they met at two consecutive WTA 1000 tournaments. They first played at the Madrid Open, and then also met at the Italian Open in Rome.
In both cases, Sabalenka won in straight sets, but especially her win in Madrid was a hard-fought one. The Belarusian player needed to win two tie-breaks to triumph 7-6(4), 7-6(7).
Kostyuk spoke about that match with the Ukrainian publication BTU, and it was clear that she was happy about how she played against Sabalenka in Madrid.
"I feel really good about that match. I truly gave it everything I had. It was probably the first time I faced a top-2 player and stepped on court fully focused and ready to leave it all out there. I came up just a little short—but that’s tennis, sometimes things go your way, sometimes they don’t."
"The most important thing is that I was proud of myself: of my mindset, the way I fought, regardless of the score, the circumstances, or the weather. It was a really high-level performance from me. And in matches like that, someone has to win… this time, it wasn’t me."
The match was even stopped by rain, and that was probably in the most crucial moment. Down 4-5 in the tie-break, Sabalenka knew she needed to win the following point, but as the rally was about to start, it started heavily raining in the Spanish capital.
However, Sabalenka started the point by missing her first serve. After that, she told the umpire that she couldn't continue, and even though the umpire first told the WTA World No. 1 to continue playing, after Sabalenka asked to stop the match for the second time, it was stopped.
Despite already missing her first serve, Sabalenka was given her first serve once again after the suspension, something Kostyuk was furious about.
A couple of weeks later, she is still angry about it, especially since the three-time Grand Slam champion later admitted that she stopped the play because she knew she would hit a double fault.
"As for the tiebreak incident... Yes, we did consider contacting the WTA—Sandra [Zanevska] wanted to raise a few questions. Maybe we’ll revisit it during Roland Garros. Of course, nothing will change now. Situations like that are tricky."
"No matter what the rules say, the chair umpire’s decision in real time is almost impossible to overturn—it all happens in a split second. And honestly, it was a strange one. If Sabalenka had stopped the point before the serve, I wouldn’t have had any issue. But the point had already started, and at that stage, she wasn’t allowed to stop it."
"The most absurd part is that she later admitted in an interview that she did it on purpose—to avoid serving a double fault. I have a lot of questions and no answers. But that’s how it goes sometimes. Now she has to live with that decision (laughs)."
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