"They are all much bigger than me, much taller" - Marta Kostyuk gets honest about her struggles against Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka & other top stars

Marta Kostyuk spoke up about her inability to get wins against Iga Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka and other top women's singles tennis stars on the WTA Tour. Kostyuk has faced Swiatek thrice and Sabalenka on four occasions and is winless against both the Pole and the Belarusian across those seven encounters. In fact, she hasn't even managed to take a single set off of them.

Speaking to Tennis365 in a recent interview conducted during the Wuhan Open, the 23-year-old Ukrainian star, who has been ranked as high as World No. 16, first touched on her battles with former No. 1 and six-time Major champion Swiatek. According to Kostyuk, she never felt ready to pose a threat to the Pole.

"Against Iga (Swiatek), when I have played her, I wasn’t ready to play her at all. I played her over a year ago and she was very strong," Kostyuk told Tennis365.

The Ukrainian and the Pole's most recent encounter came in the Round of 16 at last year's Cincinnati Open, which the latter won 6-2, 6-2.

Subsequently, Marta Kostyuk assessed her performances against reigning World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and talked about the Belarusian's intimidating height and power.

"With Aryna (Sabalenka), I know it is a tough battle. I have my own skills, but at the end of the day, they are all much bigger than me, much taller than me, much stronger than me," the Ukrainian added.

"I have some frustrations" - Marta Kostyuk makes feelings known on her results in 2025

Marta Kostyuk in action at the 2025 China Open (Source: Getty)

In the same interview, Marta Kostyuk also reflected on the high-and-low nature of her performances and results in the 2025 tennis season. Opening up about her struggles, particularly when she has been pitted against WTA top 10 opponents, the Ukrainian said:

"I just feel like I was hitting the wall a lot of times this year, losing a lot of matches to top 10 players. In a lot of matches I was really close and I couldn’t get over the line. So as the year comes to an end, I have some frustrations."

Kostyuk's most recent competitive outing came at the Wuhan Open and it was a disappointing one; a first-round loss to No. 12 seed Karolina Muchova. The Ukrainian put herself in the driving seat after dominating the crafty Czech in the first set. However, Muchova roared back into the contest to ultimately win it 2-6, 6-2, 6-4.

At the time of writing, Marta Kostyuk, having ended her 2025 season, finds herself ranked 27th in the WTA Tour's singles rankings.

Edited by Sudipto Pati