Marta Kostyuk explains the major problem with the WTA circuit: "The quality of tennis is declining"

Marta Kostyuk started her journey in the WTA 1000 Toronto 2026 with a firm step, knowing that she is facing a crucial segment of the season for her desire to break into the top-10 of the WTA ranking and continue aiming for great successes. The most surprising were her words in the press conference.

After months filled with great results and being a major protagonist both on clay and grass, with semifinals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, as well as the title in Madrid, Marta Kostyuk tries to adapt to the hard court as quickly as possible, where many things will be decided in this final stretch of the season. The WTA 1000 Toronto 2026 marks her first contact with a tour where she wants to be a key player, dreaming of a great result at the US Open.

Marta Kostyuk analyzes how the WTA circuit changes in the final stretch of the season

Kostyuk warns of a loss of tennis level

"Honestly, I felt that these changes were very drastic. I had never experienced them so much before in my career. Probably because I played a lot on clay and also a lot on grass, so it was a completely new experience for me."

Returning to play on hard courts, I felt as if I had played here a year ago. In the meantime, I played many matches, so it's quite interesting.

I love this part of the season. You can tell how everyone starts to get tired, how sometimes the quality of tennis drops and not everyone is as fresh anymore. It's interesting to see how each player tries to handle it."

Mental fatigue is the worst enemy for female tennis players

When asked about how to manage such a demanding schedule, Kostyuk admitted that she is still learning, as she has never completed a season with so many good results before.

"It's hard to say because I have never had such a good season in my career. It's completely new territory for me. What has worked best for me has been not taking it too seriously and trying to expend as little emotional and mental energy as possible.

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In the end, physically we are all prepared. We are all strong and that is almost never a problem unless an injury occurs. The problem arises when players start to tire mentally. You face difficult moments differently, you get more irritated, you become more nervous, you rush and begin to make impulsive decisions on the court.

It's a complicated process, but I feel that this year I have learned to manage many different situations. I am very proud of how we have handled them with my team."

Interesting change in her outfit in Toronto

"I changed my shoes four days ago and I feel much faster and more explosive on the court. At first, I even had coordination problems controlling that speed. Moreover, it's the first tournament after the break, we are back on hard courts, and we have also made some changes to my game over these weeks. I needed a bit of time to adapt."

The statements from the Ukrainian reflect an increasingly common reality on the women's circuit: at this point in the season, the difference between winning and losing is not always marked by physical condition, but rather by the ability to manage the mental strain that accumulates from months of competition at the highest level. 

Hearing such candid confessions from Marta Kostyuk after her debut in the WTA 1000 Toronto 2026 helps to understand the demands of a WTA circuit that does not stop and in which competitiveness is at its peak, with more and more players challenging the dominance of the best.

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Marta Kostyuk explica el gran problema del circuito WTA: "Baja la calidad del tenis"