“It’s a rough road”: Marta Kostyuk talks Alexandra Eala, pitfalls of young stardom

ROME, Italy—An on-fire Alexandra Eala was handed a cold dose of reality in chilly conditions Wednesday night at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, losing 6-0, 6-1 to Marta Kostyuk in the first round.

The 19-year-old from the Philippines had been the story of the last few months, surging into the Miami Open quarterfinals with a win over world No. 2 Iga Swiatek and nearly repeating the feat two weeks ago at the Mutua Madrid Open. But Kostyuk, also unseeded but a former world No. 16, has her own history as a junior phenom and found herself relating to the ups and downs both Eala and others like her appear in for after winning in just over an hour on Grand Stand Arena.

“I feel sorry for them, to be honest,” said Kosytuk, a former junior Australian Open champion who won her first WTA main-draw match at 15 years old.

Following that third-round appearance at the 2018 Australian Open, Kostyuk struggled to crack the Top 100 before ultimately adjusting to the spotlight's glare and coming into her own later on in her teens, reaching the second week of 2021 Roland Garros. She kicked off last season with a run to the Australian Open quarterfinals and reached her first WTA 1000 semifinal at the 2024 BNP Paribas Open.

“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.

I told her at the net, ‘It’s a rough road, but you’ve got it. Just enjoy it.' Marta Kostyuk on Alexandra Eala

“It’s amazing to be in this place. It’s not like it’s a shame, you know, sorry you’re so good, you know? It’s great, but it’s a rough road. I told her at the net, ‘It’s a rough road, but you’ve got it. Just enjoy it,’ because it is. It’s not pleasant when you go onto the court after working so hard and things don’t go your way and you’re trying to figure it all out.

“You feel everything so much more. You feel everything like it’s so big, but that’s just because their time hasn’t passed by. They still haven’t had enough matches played, enough shit that you’ve been in!

“But it’s cool because, if you’ve gone through that, congrats: you’re going to be better on the other side.”