Marta Kostyuk and Serena Williams played against each other on Wimbledon’s practice courts.
Kostyuk practiced with the 23-time Grand Slam singles champion before Williams lost to Maya Joint in her first round match at Wimbledon.
Footage of the practice set between Kostyuk and Williams was released at the time, but it was unclear as to who had actually won it.
However, after Kostyuk beat Emma Navarro to reach the second week of Wimbledon for the first time, she confirmed if she was able to beat Williams in practice.
Marta Kostyuk admits that she lost when she was practicing against Serena Williams
Kostyuk beat Navarro 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 to reach the fourth round of Wimbledon for the first time, and in her on-court interview after the match she admitted that this is something she was unsure if she would ever achieve at the grass court major.
The Ukrainian was asked about these comments in her post-match press conference, to which Kostyuk spoke about previous appearances at Wimbledon and the fact that she had been losing practice sets against both Williams and Jessica Pegula prior to this year’s tournament.
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However, after Kostyuk spoke to her coach Sandra Zaniewska, she was able to gain some belief that she could be a good grass court player.
“I mean, I feel like a lot of years that I played here, I played horrendous,” claimed Kostyuk. “I could not find my tennis on this surface, on any tournament. Never went further than round of 16, even on like 250s or 500s. So it was, like, really, it was really complicated relationship for me with this surface. Yeah, same thing was with Wimbledon.
“I was practicing with Jessica last week, and I was not playing good. I lost almost all the practice sets that I had. I lost to Serena. I lost to Jess. I lost to everyone that I was practicing with. I turned to Sandra, and I go, Can you please tell me, honestly, right now, if you think that grass suits my game. She said, 100%.
“I tried to find something to hold onto, because I wasn’t even feeling great during practice week. You know, I just try to take it match by match. And obviously I feel good now. I think this is one of the reasons why I never thought I’m going to make it to the fourth round here.”
Who is Marta Kostyuk playing next at Wimbledon?
Kostyuk has now reached the second week of every Grand Slam tournament, and now has a big opportunity to progress to the Wimbledon quarter-finals this year.
This is where she will play qualifier Ashlyn Krueger, who has previously been ranked as highly as world number 29.
Despite Krueger now being down at world number 102, Kostyuk claimed that she was not surprised to see the American at this stage of the tournament.
“I wouldn’t say so,” responded Kostyuk. “I’m not very, very surprised, yeah, that she made it to the fourth round. I think she has big serve and is good on grass.
“I played her in the beginning of last year when I was coming back from my injury, and I was very, very far from 100%. I lost in three sets in Adelaide, but it was a good match.
“So it’s going to be interesting. But, I mean, I played her in a little bit different conditions, and I felt different, so I think it’s going to be a great match.”
Give us your one crazy prediction for the second week of Wimbledon!
Also, in their only previous meeting at the Adelaide International last year, it was Krueger who beat Kostyuk in three sets.
The winner of Kostyuk and Krueger will play against the winner of Alexandra Eala and Jasmine Paolini in the Wimbledon quarter-finals.
