Ukraine’s
Marta Kostyuk has sympathised with the Philippines’
young tennis sensation
Alexandra Eala after her disappointing outing at the
Rome Open. The 19-year-old became the talk of the town after her impressive
outing at the Miami Open where her journey ended in the semifinals after losing
to America’s Jessica Pegula with a score of 7-6, 5-7, 6-3.
Eala’s journey in the ongoing Rome Open proved to be a short
one as she lost to Kostyuk in straight sets with a score of 6-0, 6-1. After the
match, the Ukrainian tennis star spoke to the media which was quoted by
Tennis.com where she sympathised with her rival. Kostyuk was of the opinion
that she can understand how tough of a journey Eala is going through, something
every young player goes through in their careers.
“I feel sorry for them, to be honest,” she said. “It’s not
that I had a bad experience [when I was young]. I’ve had, so far, an amazing
career, and I wouldn’t ask for anything more because it’s really been an
amazing journey. I just feel like, when you are young, you’re so undeveloped.
Your personality is still just building up, and everyone is labeling you
something with your game, or your personality and everything. You’re in the
middle of all this, whatever’s going on, and you’re trying to find yourself.
It’s very easy to lose yourself and obviously, you don’t know what kind of
people you should have around you. It’s normal. It’s a part of life and a part
of growth, but doing that in a spotlight is always a bigger challenge, and it
always has consequences.”
She continued by saying: “I was thinking about it when I was
playing my match today, I was like, ‘Wow,’ you know? Like, she’s going to make
it. She’s going to be here, around. But it’s just, when you are young and you
go through these kinds of days like you had today. Obviously, I could see she
was struggling, and she didn’t feel good in these conditions. We all have those
days. “But it’s a rough road. I told her at the net, ‘It’s a rough road, but
you’ve got it. Just enjoy it,’ because it is. It’s not pleasant when you go
onto the court after working so hard and things don’t go your way and you’re
trying to figure it all out. You feel everything so much more”