Ukrainian player Marta Kostyuk won the WTA 1000 final in Madrid and marked the victory with an unusual team ritual: a photograph featuring a pair of shorts that had become a good-luck charm.
According to Reddit's r/tennis community, Kostyuk explained the shorts' origin. The garment emerged from a tournament laundry room the previous year, already labelled "lucky shorts" by an unknown prior owner. Team member Sandra Zanevska claimed them and brought them to Kostyuk's matches whenever she won, transforming the accidental find into a superstition.
Kostyuk had not initially planned to bring the shorts to Madrid. Before departing for the tournament, she retrieved them from her father's home and packed them as a precaution. The team then joked that a Madrid title would warrant a celebratory photo with the shorts, which Kostyuk said she even suggested her husband wear over his trousers for the occasion—a proposal he declined.
The Madrid WTA 1000 is one of the tour's premier events, and Kostyuk's victory adds to her growing profile on the professional circuit. The second round of Madrid's next edition is scheduled for the following week.