Tennis outlet says it altered Marta Kostyuk interview about Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Świątek
Comments by Ukrainian tennis player Marta Kostyuk in which she mentioned “testosterone levels” in comparing herself with the two top women’s tennis players were distorted by a question that was not asked, tennis outlet Tennis365 appeared to acknowledge Thursday.
Before walking back its original version of the article, Tennis365 had said it asked Kostyuk in an interview from the Wuhan Open in China: “Do you feel intimidated by players like Iga Świątek and Aryna Sabalenka?”
The outlet said Kostyuk responded: “We all have our own biological structure. Some have a higher level of testosterone, some have lower. It’s just natural and that definitely helps.”
But in a story published Thursday, Tennis365 said that it had “inserted” the question about intimidation between two parts of Kostyuk’s answer to a different question. The original story also used two questions that were not included in its updated recap of the interview, but Tennis365 did not acknowledge those changes in its clarification.
Tennis365 then reproduced her full quotes, which were in response to the question: “When you play Sabalenka and Świątek, how close do you feel you are? What makes them a little better? Their consistency or their mental strength?”
Kostyuk responded: “With Iga, when I have played her, I wasn’t ready to play her at all, I played her over a year ago. With Aryna I don’t know, to be honest.
“When I look at these players, I have my own skills, but at the end of the day, they are all much bigger than me, much taller than me, much stronger than me. We all have different biological structures.
“Some have a higher level of testosterone, some have lower. I know players who are good players who have higher levels of it. It’s just natural, they don’t take anything. I’m sure of that. It’s just the biology of their body.
“Obviously, that definitely helps. I’m trying to see how I can beat these players with the tennis skills I have, but I have to work more than they have to win the points.”
Tennis365 acknowledged that it had originally omitted part of her comments about testosterone, in which she said, “it’s just natural, they don’t take anything. I’m sure of that. It’s just the biology of their body.”
The outlet said that it “initially opted not to include Marta’s comment about players ‘not taking anything’ as we didn’t want this story to have any contentious undertones.”
Kostyuk did not respond to a request for comment made through her agent. Tennis 365 did not respond to a request for comment.
The WTA intervened on Kostyuk’s behalf to establish the veracity of the interview after its original publication, according to a source briefed on the matter.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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