Marta Kostyuk’s Coach Sandra Zaniewska on Emotions, Pressure & Winning

Marta Kostyuk’s coach Sandra Zaniewska joins Caroline Garcia and Borja Duran on Tennis Insider Club for a deep conversation about emotions, pressure, coaching, parents, data, recovery and what it really takes to build a top tennis player.

Sandra shares how she went from professional player to coach, what she learned from working with Petra Martić and Alizé Cornet, and how she built a long-term relationship with Marta Kostyuk. She explains why she loves emotional players, why the goal is not to get rid of emotions, and how Marta is learning to turn them into strength.

They also discuss the pressure of winning titles, the difference between being an underdog and a top seed, why Sandra does not set ranking goals, how she uses data to measure progress, how players can recover mentally during a long WTA season, and why tennis parents need more education and support.

This episode is for Marta Kostyuk fans, tennis coaches, tennis parents, junior players, WTA fans, and anyone interested in elite sport, mental performance and high performance.

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Chapters:

00:00 Intro: emotions, parents and coaching

00:42 How Sandra Zaniewska started playing tennis

02:20 Why you don’t need to start tennis at age three

03:00 Retiring as a player and becoming a coach

04:05 IM8 Daily Essentials ad

05:20 From player to coach: the transition

06:30 Coaching Petra Martić and learning on the job

08:00 Petra Martić’s French Open quarterfinal and Sandra’s breakthrough moment

09:15 Why coach-player splits feel like breakups

11:00 Learning to coach different personalities

12:00 How to start with a new player and build trust

14:00 Joining a team and working with staff

14:40 Coaching Marta Kostyuk under pressure

17:00 Why Sandra loves emotional players

19:15 The pressure of being an underdog vs a top seed

22:00 What happens after winning a title

23:15 Managing expectations after big success

24:00 Marta Kostyuk’s “princess treatment” at Roland Garros

25:20 Why Marta skipped Rome

26:00 Mental recovery and protecting the player

27:00 Why Sandra told Marta to consider stopping her season

29:00 Giving players space outside tennis

30:30 Learning when not to play

32:00 The ranking trap and outside pressure

33:30 What parents misunderstand in junior tennis

35:00 Why tennis parents need more education

36:00 Sandra’s advice to parents of young players

38:30 Parents living through their children

40:30 Why players must enjoy the journey

42:30 What really changed before Marta Kostyuk’s breakthrough

45:00 Why Sandra doesn’t set ranking goals

46:30 Using data to prove progress

48:15 How long should a coach-player relationship last?

49:45 The stats Sandra uses with Marta Kostyuk

51:00 Scouting opponents and choosing the right tools

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