Marta Kostyuk evokes Jannik Sinner: "He did even better"

Marta Kostyuk in an interview following her victory in Madrid against Caty McNally talked about how important it was to have played another sport before tennis. Her acrobatic background helped her with her balance on the tennis court, as well as with her movements. Somewhat like what happened to Jannik Sinner with skiing, so much so that it was Kostyuk herself who conjured up the world number one.

“Well, I’m sure skiing has benefited Jannik Sinner even more, as we can see. But yes, it definitely helped me in many ways,” she said. “It helped me keep my balance, do the splits, the slides, everything.”

“My body is ready for this kind of load. I feel very strong and that has definitely helped me growing up. But of course I also played a lot of tennis. Thank you, mom. But yeah, I think it was a good combination for me,” are the words reported by Fanpage.

Sinner is looking for a historic feat in Madrid. The world number one, after beating Denmark’s Elmer Møller in the round of 16 with a clear 6-2, 6-3 victory, is aiming for his fifth consecutive Masters 1000, a milestone no tennis player has ever managed to achieve in the past. In the round of 16, the South Tyrolean faced Britain’s Cameron Norrie, a 30-year-old who has never met before in his career on the circuit, although the two have trained together before. “I’ve never faced him in a match, which is surprising since we’ve been on the circuit for about five years,” Norrie said before the match. “He has tremendous confidence, he’s probably the most confident player on the circuit right now.”