Kasatkina condemned Russia’s war and came out as gay. Now she’s finding ‘balance’

Most of the crowd for Wednesday’s first match on Centre Court wasn’t on Daria Kasatkina’s side.

Still, after the year she’s had, the mild-mannered Wimbledon spectators mostly siding with her British opponent, Jodie Burrage, probably isn’t going to faze her too much.

Kasatkina, the No 11 seed at Wimbledon, is one of the 17 players in the singles draws this year whose names appear on the running orders without the three-letter abbreviation for their country after their names.

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That was a condition of the Russian and Belarusian players, banned from the All England Club in 2022 because of their countries’ role in the Ukraine war, being able to participate this time.

Kasatkina is against the war and has vocalised her opposition to it on a number of occasions, something that went down as well as you might expect back home. In fact, she hasn’t been able to return to Russia since the war began in February 2022.

It’s a colossal sacrifice, but one she doesn’t regret, even though she also worries about the consequences for her family, who remain in Russia. “I want to be able to respect myself when I look in the mirror, and if being a good person means I have to sacrifice my home, that’s my choice,” she told The Sunday Times recently.

Throw in coming out as gay a year ago, with Russia an actively hostile place for LGBTQ+ people, and in many respects, it’s remarkable she had the headspace or enthusiasm for tennis at all.

But gradually over the past 12 months, things have inched towards being normal again. Or, as Kasatkina put it after her 6-0, 6-2 win over Burrage, “balanced”.

“I had difficult moments this year on court and outside of the court,” she said. “Now I think I am a bit more balanced and really happy being on the court, and happy being outside of the court.

“It’s very difficult to stay stable. Very difficult. But for the moment, I think I found my routines and I’m happy with the way I’m building my days, my routines, my schedule. These things are very important and it helps me a lot.

“I’m really appreciating the people who are around me. They are just the best people and taking care of me. I think the environment, the people around you, it’s number one maybe, because they affect you a lot, so it’s important to be around the right people.

“(I’m) trying to be better and better every day, just to be a better version of myself without comparing myself to the others.”

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Playing well helps, too. Kasatkina reached the final of Eastbourne, the main tune-up tournament just before Wimbledon, where she lost to Madison Keys. She’s back in the top 10 of the WTA rankings and made short work of her British opponent here (admittedly to be expected, given there are 98 places separating them), giving up only two games in a fairly emphatic example of what a ‘gulf in class’ looks like.

“I mean, playing a final the week before a (Grand) Slam — in general, playing finals — it gives you confidence,” she said. “It’s a bit tiring physically to go from spending the whole week on court to playing a Grand Slam — and on the first day. It was not an easy challenge, but I handled it. Mentally, I feel good.”

As she speaks, you sense there seems to be an air of caution around the optimism. Perhaps it’s the caution of someone who, through personal experience, knows things can change for the worse very quickly. Within tennis, as well as away from it, too.

The women’s game has lost some important figures in recent times: Amanda Anisimova is absent from Wimbledon as she takes a mental health break from tennis; Bianca Andreescu took a pause from the sport in 2022; Kasatkina herself has talked about her own mental health issues in the past.

“You have to take care of (your mental health). Especially now — the things which are going on in the world are crazy. Our generation, we are going through Covid, war — so many things.

“Plus, we are so much in the media. Everything just takes so much energy and takes your focus away. It’s difficult to accept that phones are not helping. Social media, not helping. All these electronic things are not helping.

“If you want to stay mentally healthy, you need to manage this and you have to also work with the right people. Plus we have so much stress, of course.

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“This is what’s happening to many players and many people in general because we see a lot of young people that are experiencing mental issues and problems. Maybe I sound like an old person saying it’s phones and the internet, but unfortunately, it’s true.”

The perhaps unfortunate flip side of some of the game’s top talents being absent (throw in Naomi Osaka missing basically the whole of 2023, too) is that the draw is a little more open for players like Kasatkina.

Iga Swiatek, who breezed through her own second-round match against Sara Sorribes Tormo on Wednesday, is the obvious favourite to win her first Wimbledon title, with Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina not too far behind. But underneath that trio, there is a clutch of players who will fancy their chances of going deep into the tournament.

What a thing it would be if Kasatkina was the one after the year she’s had. Centre Court would be on her side then.

(Top photo: Patrick Smith/Getty Images)