“It’s not that I had a bad experience. I’ve had, so far, an amazing career, and I wouldn’t ask for anything more because it’s really been an amazing journey. I just feel like, when you are young, you’re so undeveloped. Your personality is still just building up, and everyone is labeling you something with your game, or your personality and everything. You’re in the middle of all this, whatever’s going on, and you’re trying to find yourself. It’s very easy to lose yourself and obviously, you don’t know what kind of people you should have around you. It’s normal. It’s a part of life and a part of growth, but doing that in a spotlight is always a bigger challenge, and it always has consequences.
“I was thinking about it when I was playing my match today,” Kostyuk said, continuing to think aloud in the mixed zone. “I was like, ‘Wow,’ you know? Like, she’s going to make it. She’s going to be here, around. But it’s just, when you are young and you go through these kinds of days like you had today. Obviously, I could see she was struggling, and she didn’t feel good in these conditions. We all have those days. I particularly didn’t play good in Rome or Madrid ever! Everything is new, so it’s a difficult time. I would not want to be young again, to be honest.”
Still only 22 years old, Kostyuk consoled Eala at the net, imparting her unique wisdom after booking a second-round meeting with No. 14 seed Daria Kasatkina.
