Marta KostyukĀ produced two iconic moments after winning her maidenĀ Ā WTAĀ 1000 title at theĀ Ā Madrid OpenĀ and one of those involved lifting a pair of underwear during the post-match trophy presentation ceremony.
The 23-year-old is in the form of her life as just a fortnight after winning her second WTA Tour singles event by beating fellow Ukrainian Veronika Podrez in the WTA 250 Open de Rouen final, she won the biggest trophy in the Spanish capital.
After shocking fifth-seed Jessica Pegula in the third round, the 26th-seeded Kostyuk went all the way as sheĀ defeated ninth-seed Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 7-5Ā in the Madrid Open final to capture her third title.
And she celebrated by doing a perfect backflip on Court Manolo Santana at Caja Magica and it is only the third time that she has produced her gymnastic skills at a tournament, as it only comes out when she wins an event.
āI did gymnastics for seven years and played tennis at the same time. When I win a tournament, I do it,ā she explained.

Later during the ceremony, there was another unusual moment as she was joined on court by her team and her two dogs and while they posed for pictures, they held up a piece of menās black underwear.
The garment has proven to be a lucky charm.
āWe have a tournament laundry service and sometimes the clothes get mixed up and last year we ended up with āthis piece of underwear where in it was written āLucky Shortsā. So āwe kept it,āĀ KostyukĀ told Spainās Movistar Plus.
āMy coach Sandra [Zaniewska] kept it āas ā a lucky charm.
āShe drove to her fatherās house just to pick it up before travelling here again for the tournament. And we made this promise that if Iād win we would bring the āLucky āShortsā for the photoshoot with the trophy.ā
Although only 23 years old, Kostyuk has been playing top-level tennis for a decade as she turned pro in 2016. The following year, she won the Australian Open Girlsā title, beating reigning world No 2 Elena Rybakina in the semi-final and Rebeka Masarova in the final.
But it took a while for junior success to translate to senior level, as her first WTA singles title only arrived in 2023, but one has now turned into three in the space of three weeks and that is no doubt down to changing her mindset.

āAt the beginning of this year, I told my team that I finally felt that the achievements I had at 14 and 15 no longer weighed on me,ā she said.
āFor a long time, I lived with everyoneās expectations, as if those early results had almost been a burden. When I freed myself from that, everything changed. Iām very proud of what I accomplished as a young player, but now I can enjoy tennis.ā