How Marta Kostyuk's decision to reduce focus on winning has led to more success than ever as Ukraine star reaches Wimbledon fourth round
By Alan Smith
Updated 05/07/2026 at 07:48 GMT+1
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Marta Kostyuk turned on the style in a dominant third set against Emma Navarro to reach the second week of Wimbledon for the first time, with the Ukraine star then putting her impressive run of form since the start of the clay season down to shifting her mindset away from a 'win at all costs' approach.
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Kostyuk, who shone en route to the semi-finals at this year's Roland-Garros, saw off American Navarro 6-2 4-6 6-1 to reach the fourth round at SW19 for the first time. The No. 12 seed had previously lost all four meetings with Navarro, who had no reply to her in-form opponent hitting a higher gear in the deciding set.
And Kostyuk, who won clay titles in Rouen and Madrid prior to Paris, has said her dazzling 2026 campaign is a consequence of learning to enjoy experiences, rather than placing her entire focus on winning matches.
"I never thought in my life that I will reach the fourth round here," she said in her on-court interview. "This is new territory for me. Unbelievable support, atmosphere, always. Thank you so much, guys, for coming. Thank you."
Having won the opening set in a straightforward manner, Kostyuk was pegged back by a determined Navarro in the second stanza. However, she went up a gear from the start of the decider to eventually triumph in 1 hour and 44 minutes.
Asked if she was able to enjoy and appreciate the match, Kostyuk then revealed how she is being more mindful of the bigger picture beyond wins and losses during a relentless campaign.
She had lost her previous third-round appearances at Wimbledon in straight sets to Madison Keys in 2023 and 2024.
Kostyuk added: "100%, I was talking to my husband yesterday, and I said: 'You know, okay, I really want to win the match but the most important thing [is] I want to enjoy it 100% because I'm on tour for a very long time already and I feel like I missed out on a lot of incredible moments because I was so focused on winning, on achieving something.'
"And, you know, in tennis it never stops. I can play well here [but then] there is the next tournament next week starting. It never ends, so I just, I probably found this formula for myself that no matter what the result is, the most important thing is to enjoy it 100%, and I feel so privileged to be here."
Kostyuk has also become accustomed with going deep in fortnight-long tournaments, and she said that the prospect of continuing at Wimbledon is not overly daunting.
Her run to the last four at Roland-Garros certainly helped, eventually seeing a 17-match winning streak end with a straight sets loss to Mirra Andreeva.
But Kostyuk had also defeated Iga Swiatek and compatriot Elina Svitolina on the way and can now reasonably expect a shot at glory in south-west London. American qualifier Ashlyn Krueger or fellow Ukrainian Daria Snigur await in the fourth round.
"I would say because we have so many two-week tournaments right now, I probably got some practice in how to handle long tournaments, how to recover, how to relax," Kostyuk added of the longer format. "And that definitely helps my performance on Grand Slams and I think the most important thing is really take it day by day, and spend as little energy as possible every single day."
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