For this year the world rankings have 99. This newfound freedom had already paid off at the US Open 2020 when Kostyuk reached the third round. I now have no limits in my head and I don't think that I can only play two events and have to plan my year. Her 18th birthday in June of last year played a very decisive role: 'Since then I have been able to play as many tournaments as I want. In the meantime, however, she has worked her way out of the hole, said the Ukrainian.

It just fell apart, 'said Kostyuk, recalling the time after the Australian Open. I tried to be very inconspicuous when I was having problems. I had to go through depression but never talked about it. Shortly before the start of the third round match against Elina Svitolina, she was thinking how she should defend this result in the coming year, said Kostyuk: 'I spent the whole of 2018 thinking about how I could keep these points.' She was glad that she had this experience, even though the time was extremely challenging. I wanted to go back to the feeling of hitting the ball at the Australian Open. It was such a big deal and I didn't want to let her go. The successful run in Melbourne wasn't a real blessing, however, as Kostyuk explained to WTA Insider on the sidelines of the WTA 500 tournament in Abu Dhabi: 'I clung to the Australian Open for so long in my life. It was almost exactly three years ago when Marta Kostyuk's star seemed to really rise: At the Australian Open 2018, the Ukrainian sensationally played her way up to the third round and only a few weeks later she reached the top 200 in the world rankings for the first time - and with just 15 years!

Marta kostyuk vs veronika kudermetova