Friendly talk with Daria Kasatkina

Hi! Here’s the summary of our big interview with Daria Kasatkina.

You can listen our podcast here

Elisaveta (telegram channel, twitter)
Angie (telegram channel, twitter)
Kirill (my works, twitter)

Please tell us about your preseason.

I’m in Rome now spending the last days of my preseason here and very soon I’m leaving for Australia. I’m here this year because my coach is Italian and we try to mix places where I practice. Off season lasts 7,5 weeks: 2 weeks for vacation and 5,5 weeks for preseason. My brother says that’s minimum. He’s my fitness coach and he loves working in a graphic and when everything is well organized. So I have lots of training during these weeks and frankly speaking I don’t have enough time and power for something else. But I like this time of the season because you can stay at one place for a while. It’s relaxing after weekly flights during the year. 

Did you manage to rest during those two weeks? I mean physically and psychologically. 

Of course everyone wants to rest a little bit more. I’m not Andrey Rublev (laughing). Nobody is Andrey. I will say that after these two weeks you really feel recharged and fresh but after two weeks of preseason you start feeling like you need to have a rest again. 

People love to explain players’ results because of preseason. Is it correct and how much does preseason affect you?

Judging like this, people don’t have a full picture about what's going on during these days. And lots of things could happen. I mean you can get micro injury or the weather can ruin your plans. Preseason is really important, especially for me, because my game is based on physical abilities. My matches last more than 2 hours, usually 3 sets. That’s why for me it's really important to develop my stamina and physical limits. It’s important for everyone in general. But for example Petra Kvitova can practice less but be on her peak form for one exact week and win a tournament. She's a very talented player and of course she works a lot, but I mean that exactly physical shape affects her less than me.

How were these weeks for you? No injuries?

I’m very pleased with these weeks. It rained a couple days, the courts were wet  and I had to practice indoors. But in general everything was great. And it’s the first preseason for the last few years when I didn't get injured. But I want to highlight that a good preseason isn’t the only key for good results. You can work really hard these weeks, win every match during practices…but at the tournaments everything works in another way. Your performance is a set of different factors. You can feel not good enough but win thanks to your character. So preseason is the base but not the only key to your results.

Everyone loves to criticize players for exhibition matches during the preseason. How much does this distract from preparation?

It’s a very individual moment. Someone, like me, loves to stay at one place for this period of the year. Someone, like Andrey, needs to be always in a rhythm. Before this year I wasn’t a big fan of exhibition tournaments, mostly I prefer to stay, practice and spend time on my own. This year I took part in an exhibition tournament in Macau. And I liked it. Except flight because going to Hong Kong and back during a few days it’s exhausting. But in general everything was cool. I played one match to check my form for the third week of preseason. Me and my coach were a little bit stressed that it could affect my preparation but everything was smooth. 

So at the beginning of the season the are 4 groups of fans explaining the players’ results: 1) that was a bad/ good preseason 2) not enough rest (hello Andrey one more time) 3) exhibition matches 4) too much rest

(laughing) Don’t forget to explain the results with relationships. It’s a very popular opinion now, you know. What can I say…everyone has the right to have an opinion but it doesn’t mean that this opinion is correct. Everybody sees just a small picture when a player is on the court. But you don’t know what happens off the court in life. Everyone just judges our forehands and backhands. And it’s like it’s because he or she isn’t focused on the game enough. But how do you know what happens in my life at this moment? 

Being so many years on tour do you feel encouraged before the one more start of the season? 

Let’s start from a small preview. When I was younger haha…when I spent the first full season in WTA in 2016 I remember my first big tournaments and GS. I was so impressed and inspired like a child during Christmas time. You’re so happy with everything. I spent all my time on site: playing matches, watching other’s matches, hanging with someone…I loved that atmosphere so much. And it filled me a lot. But unfortunately nothing lasts forever. Year by year everything is the same: the tournaments, location, vibes, people…and you treat it like your job. I just grew up. Being on tour for 10 years my attitude changes: I know that at the end of the year I travel to Australia, I know where’s my hotel, tennis club, the best breakfast and everything. I got used to it. I agree here with Maria Sharapova who said that she just does her job being on courts and then she leaves “the office”. I also connect my attitude transformation that at one period it gave me energy and later I spend more energy than I get. That’s why I come to the tournaments very focused: I practice, play matches, do media parts and everything that I have to do and after it I’m leaving the site to recover and recharge my battery. I don’t know about every player but lots of whom I discussed this moment agree with me. At the beginning everything is new and it’s your childhood dream but later you get used to everything.

Have you ever thought till what age are you going to play?

Thinking about it earlier I was on a roller coaster. Few years ago I thought that I wouldn't play for too long. But then I was inspired again and changed my mind. The most important thing is to be healthy. When you are young you’re focused just on tennis: tournaments, practicing and your body allows you such rhythm. Getting older you change your calendar: play less and take more care about your health. And work life balance also transforms and that helps you still to have passion for the sport. I think because of that tennis has become “older”. 

Okay, are you going to play 10 more years?

10 is too optimistic (laughing)…I think I will definitely play till 35. What comes after you never know. It’s too far away. If health will be fine…so why not?

So for now you don’t experience burnout?

There’s such a moment being a young star you can lose your motivation a little bit. Boris Becker mentioned this about Alcaraz. But it’s very individual. I had a hard period being 21. Yes, I wasn’t as successful as Carlos, but I finished the year in the top-10 and it’s a good achievement.. And I didn’t understand what’s next. Everyone can have this burnout because of a set of factors. To prevent it you have to work with a psychologist who knows everything about it and can help you. Because being on your own with your problems it’s very hard to find the solution. And it’s normal to ask for help. When you’re young you feel like you can beat everyone but later one morning you wake up and feel a lack of energy and don’t understand what happened. You start thinking that something is wrong with you. You feel broken, everyone has expectations from you but you don’t know how to get back to your level. You just go down and can’t play your game and it’s depressing. As soon as you start feeling it you have to work with a specialist. It’s very very important. Because everything that you show on court it’s the same what goes in your head and life. 

So have you worked with a psychologist?

I have been working with a specialist approximately since 2019. I used to work with different people because it’s not easy to find exactly your specialist. And that’s okay. People think that if you try for the first time and you don’t like it, it's not my story. But it doesn't work like this. You just have to find your person and everything will work in a good way. 

How important is the role of a coach at this stage of your career? 

The coach is a very important person in the life of any athlete, especially in tennis. Coach gives you support, an outside perspective, it's the person with whom you travel every week of the year. It is difficult to find someone with a combination of a good personality and good knowledge. Previously, my coaches were extra demanding. Now Flavio (Cipolla) gives me so much more freedom, lets me grow as a player. He played and coached the ATP guys. I am his first WTA player. He was shocked! He said: “what's going on here? Why are you all so serious and uptight?” You can see that girls are more serious than guys. Even at practice, you see the difference. Girls put 100% into practicing. The guys practice as if they're playing PlayStation. So Flavio gives me more freedom, the previous coaches had more control over the training process and my game in general. I was constantly corrected even for “silly” mistakes. Now I have more freedom so I don't push myself to the limit. 

Several years ago you said that you like to watch more ATP matches than WTA. Have you changed your preferences? 

Now I don't watch tennis at all (laughing). Actually I watch tennis, but way less than I used to. I realised that I need to rest from tennis, and there is not so much interest in watching it on TV as before, watching it live is of course better. I think I like Alcaraz's matches. He gives energy and emotions. I really liked the Wimbledon final. Girls have the most interesting matches on Saturday, but I'm practicing or have things to do, so I don't have the time for this. Also I saw doubles at the Davis Cup Final - especially interesting when singles players are involved.

Equal prize money 

Comparing men's and women's sports makes no sense at all. I don't understand why we're doing it, we're not competing with each other. I think the topic of equal prize money was not invented by tennis players. We realise that this is impossible nowadays. We want our prize money to increase. And it's absolutely normal when you work and you want the best, you want to be paid more. Especially when you know that the capacity to pay is there. We know a little bit more than others, so we're not satisfied. That's what we're fighting for. No one wants to take men's money away from them. We don't want to sit with what we have because it's not enough. The top-50 WTA are doing well, the rest are just surviving. ATP has a better situation with that. Even if we look at the prize money at WTA 250 or WTA 125, it's absurd. After all the taxes and expenses, there's nothing to live on.

Could changes in the WTA leadership have an impact on the tour? 

Right now the situation is favorable for changes. WTA is not at the rock bottom, but the current position is not great. Nearly all the players are not happy, there is no progress in the organization, there is no marketing. We are trying to fight with the help of PTPA, they have taken the role of a representative because we are not lawyers, we don't know the legal issues. They have professionals there who know exactly what to do. WTA Finals in Cancun was a crucial moment. The problem is that the whole internet was laughing at the coolest WTA tournament with the best players, and it turned into a joke. 

What's the first thing you would change? 

I wouldn't separate WTA from TennisTV, It used to be one thing. Now WTA TV is one of the worst platforms, you can't even find it on a web search. TennisTV is the coolest, they promote tennis very well. I would look towards promotion, there's a huge potential. It feels like they don't intentionally promote women's tennis, and that's very disappointing. If you look at the WTA`s TikTok, it was created in 2020 during the COVID-19, and the last video was published at that time. After all, the WTA has the platform, the fans, you just have to get this car up and running. What's wrong with them? To be honest, I can't answer that question.

Tell us please about your vlog.

In fact, we always try very hard to improve our channel. Natasha spends a lot of time on this. We try to add some cool new things. But, of course, it's difficult to do it, considering that for me it's more like a hobby. We’ve got very little time for this. Girls spend a lot of time playing tennis and we don't want to push them once again. But we try to improve our channel.

How do you deal with haters?

The channel saves me from all this. This’s my outlet from the haters. I like to make covers, come up with cool things. I can't think about tennis all the time. People think: "Here's a vlog coming out, these vlogs are constantly coming out, Dasha and Natasha always make them”. People think I spend about 24 hours a day shooting vlogs. But it's just 2% of my time. In vlogs I can distract myself, relax and think about something else. And it's still directly related to tennis. I don't even disconnect from my main activity here. I want to do something cool, educational. People are interested in finding out what works and how, what kind of players are outside the court, because there’s a difference between what we do on court and how we behave outside it, to show the life of athletes, how they travel. My hobby helps me a lot, because I'm rethinking all this.

We even thought about recording a podcast, but it takes time, at least one hour or an hour and a half. Everyone works, then the tennis players rest. So far, a podcast’s the kind of thing that just needs to be thought about. It’ll still be repeated, but we need to come up with something cool, innovative (laughing) to dilute the content.

What are your plans and goals for the next season?

Judging by the way events are developing in the world, it would be nice to survive (laughing). What’re my plans? Of course, I want to win everything I can, to rise in the rankings as high as possible. It's all clear, everyone always says it and it's obvious. I realized that the rankings actually are a very unstable thing. You can be at the top 10 today, and tomorrow your points are burned out, and you’re already gone outside the top 20. But it hasn't affected your level in any way at this particular period of time.

I think that working on the game is fundamental. If you’re confident in your game, if you clearly understand what you need to do on court, you’ve a clear head, and you’re confident in yourself, the ranking’ll come with the effect that you show with your game. That's why now I'm focusing on the improvements of my game. During the pre-season, we worked a lot on this and now I certainly have a lot of expectations. Now, some people will probably think that I'm going to play serve-and-volley (laughing).

You can't see the full picture of the game on TV. But I still want to convert my game into a more aggressive style. Because more and more players come to the WTA tour with an aggressive style and it’s more and more difficult to play with them. Physically, everyone’s getting stronger and we need to evolve in this direction. Therefore, I want to become mentally stable in order to keep the level throughout the match, the tournament, the season, for a long period of time and, of course, improve the game and not to focus on the result at a particular moment. I’ve realized that if I just suffer, running behind the baseline, it's wrong. Even if I win this match, I’il understand that it did not bring me anything good apart from the ranking points.

Now I understand that it’ll be hard for me to accept this, but I would rather lose the match, but improve something new in my game, than suffer a victory in a particular game with the help of lobs and running behind the baseline. I'd rather sacrifice some of my matches, but I'll try to improve the game.

Do you know some information about possible admission of Russian tennis players to the 2024 Olympic Games?

Unfortunately, we know exactly as much as everyone else. There’s nothing to understand. The IOC has already allowed us to participate in the Olympics in a neutral status, but the ITF hasn’t made a decision yet. We’re waiting for it, so far nothing is known.

What’s your opinion about Rafael Nadal’s comeback to the ATP Tour?

I'm already happy that he’ll come back. It's amazing how he proves it every time. Everyone writes him off, but every time he comes back like a phoenix and wins something. It's totally unbelievable.

As for the prospects, I do not know, because he always needs some time after comebacks. But I've heard that Rafa is in very good shape right now — it's the most important thing. I think it's already an incredible victory for him that he'll сome back. If he can show some kind of result already in Australia, it will be very cool. As a fan from the cradle, I want to postpone the cry when your idol ends his career. I'm not in a hurry, I'd like to see more of his matches.

Do you still keep in touch with Rafa?

Yes. I know him personally. But I still have the feeling that he’s my idol, my childhood idol. I still have a slight tremor, some excitement when I see him around somewhere (laughing). I would regret it if I missed this chance. And yes, I would like to take another photo with him!