Ukrainian tennis player Marta Kostyuk spoke about her condition before the start of Roland Garros and shared her expectations from the first round match against Arina Sobolenko.
“My mood is normal, fighting, as usual before the Grand Slam tournament. After Rome, I went back to Monaco, spent time with my family, recovered, because I got sick again.
No one knew about it, but for the last month I have had a wave of sores. I know that a lot of people got sick in Tours. I got poisoned, then I had some kind of viral illness before the Billie Jean King Cup, in Madrid I got sick again, but even worse. I thought it was an allergy, because there was a bloom. Then I had reactions in my body after the illness. And after Rome I came home and on the first day I got sick again. I don’t know when was the last time I was in so much pain. Now the physical condition, thank God, is normal. I feel that this wave is already passing, because it is impossible to get sick for so long.
I think that this is the first time I will play with a tennis player with such a high rating, with the second racket of the world, at the Grand Slam tournament. I have never played such a highly ranked player in the first round, so it will be a new experience for me. I would not say that I was just lucky, but earlier in the majors in the first matches I always had good nets. But what’s the point of playing tennis if I don’t play strong players, and Sabolenko seems to be leading the season in points right now. I hope that there will be a decent fight and I will be able to show my best tennis.”
