“And please welcome from Australia, Daria Kasatkina!”
With those seven simple words of the MC that presented it in the Court at the Charleston Open, the new superstar of Australia, the import of Kasatkina tennis, admitted that it had been felt feeling a bag of nerves about the advent of its new adventure of tennis in green and gold.
She doesn’t need to have worried.
Because, just over an hour later, after his triumph of consummate as a Australian player, “Dasha” was absorbing the crowds of the United States crowd in the famous green clay courts of the sand in the middle of the strains of “Come from a earth underneath”, while giving a smile of relief mixed with genuine joy.
“A new stage for me. Then, going to court today as Australian, this time it was stressful, sincerely,” admitted the 27-year-old, after his 6-1, 6-1 demolition by Lauren Davis American demonstrated just what class act, Australia has been endowed in this outstanding number 12 of the world.
“I just couldn’t prevent my smile from breaking,” he explained after listening to the announcer saying ‘… of Australia’.
“So it is a really special moment for me to win a first game as a Australian player. I am very happy and I could not believe that one day something like that would happen to me.”
Kasatkina’s change of Kasatkina from her native Russia to Australia has been the world tennis talk.
But he has also proven to be very stressful for an athlete who, openly gay and that he had been so open against the invasion of Ukraine, felt that he had no choice but to abandon Russia so that “it could be myself.”
When asked about what had made her feel so stressed, Kasatkina laughed in a laugh after the game when she said to Tennis Channel: “Guess, friend!
“This week it was a bit stressful, with all the changes and all the comments. When the player of the tennis player steps on the court, all the stress he is living explodes. This is how it works. And I am very happy how I handled that situation today, because it was not easy, honestly.”
However, it didn’t look like this.
Because, against the number 211 of the 31 -year -old world, a player who number 12 in the world would have expected to dismantle comfortably, Kasatkina made him seem simple, demonstrating why she is the best player who represents Australia since Ash Barty called him one day.
She led to an advantage of 5-0 for the loss of only nine points on her preferred clay surface, and despite a first error of the second set when she broke after serving three consecutive double failures, a weakness that her game was long ago, was in a different league to the former Hobart Davis winner.
It was in this court in Charleston that Kasatkina had achieved the first of her eight tournament triumphs when she was a teenager in 2017. “Oh my God, eight years ago …”, he said, horrible.
But now he feels that his tennis life is starting again there, and his gratitude for Australia could not sound more genuine.
“Australia is a great place. It’s a bit far [away]I will not lie, but it is a great place, very cozy, “he said after establishing a clash of the last 16 with the 17th seed Belinda Bencic or the former winner of the Australian Open Sofia Kenin.
“The people there are different there, very pleasant. All are treated in the same way. I mean, it’s just harmony there. You feel that nobody is judging anyone, and you can be yourself.”
AAPA
