By Chris Oddo | Saturday July 7, 2018
Russia's Daria Kasatkina reached the second week at Wimbledon for the first time in hard career and will square off with Alison Van Uytvanck for a spot in the quarterfinals.
Wimbledon, England—Russia’s Daria Kasatkina has had no problem winning fans over the last few years on tour.
Now that she’s winning more and more matches expect her to win even more. The 14th-seeded Russian danced past No.17-seeded Ashleigh Barty on No.3 Court early on Day 6, overcoming an early 4-1 deficit to knock off one of the hottest grass-court players on tour, 7-5, 6-3.
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The victory marks Kasatkina’s third trip to the second week of a major in her last four, and she’ll bid to reach back-to-back major quarterfinals when she faces Belgium's Alison Van Uytvanck on Monday.
“I’m not gonna say anything,” Kasatkina said with a giggle when asked about what she learned from her three-set win over the Belgian less than two weeks ago at Eastbourne.
Experience is helping her in the press room as well as the courts, but the 21-year-old isn’t shy on all topics.
She was happy to talk about her relationship with grass-court tennis and told a small gathering of reporters that she is warming up to it. “This surface is completely different [than clay] but still I’m enjoying here, because it’s the surface where you have to play. You have to find the ways, you have to do with the ball whatever stupid things come into your mind, and it’s working here because the ball is not bouncing these crazy bounces.”
She pauses to find the words, then continues, her words a lot like her tennis—stream of consciousness, unfiltered, improvisational yet pulled off with an impressive artistry.
“Maybe I could do better with the serve but during the game I really enjoy.”
Kasatkina didn’t love the grass when she initially stepped on it as a junior. But over time she has learned that she can make things work on her terms, and she also sees it as a surface that can aid in her still developing game.
When journalist Reem Abulleil of Sport 360 asked Kasatkina if she felt that grass brings out her creativity more than any other surface, she agrees.
“Maybe. Yeah. And it really will help me in the future, because of a lot of things. Like you really have to focus on your serve, you have to go for volley, you have to play aggressive, because if you’re just running five meters behind the baseline you have no chance. I think it would bring some improvement to my game.”
Kasatkina certainly needs that work on the serve. She has been broken nine times in three matches and faced 29 break points, but her return on the surface has been a dream. She’s feeling her way through return games effortlessly and leads all WTA players in percentage of return games won (63 percent, 19 breaks in 30 games).
I asked her if she could think of a reason but she really didn’t have any.
“Just coming naturally,” she said. “I don’t know. I’m not even recognizing these things. … I just go, I watch the ball and I react, that’s all I do.”
Whether it is truly a case of instinct over acumen, or instinct being acumen, it’s hard to tell. What’s painfully obvious for her opponents is that Kasatkina is a wizard on court, one that possesses so many tricks, so much variety, and a seemingly endless number of combinations and sequences, all improvisational and all effective.
Sure, the forehand can get away from her quite a bit, and yes, there are moments when her mind is a step ahead of her body and she goes for a smidgen too much.
But all the ingredients are there for Kasatkina to rise high in the rankings and go deep in draws. It’s clear now that she’s better at organizing her game and executing her tactics than she was a year ago, and it’s likely that she’ll be even better this time next year.
For now we can take the weekend to wonder if it’s enough. If there really is room for a true artist to thrive at the top of tennis. It’s easy to dream about a tennis landscape where improv beats insipid, where the elevated wrestles with the commonplace and emerges victorious.
We asked the same questions about Agnieska Radwanska and we’ve never received a satisfying answer. But the Pole lacked the power and aggressive element that Kasatkina intertwines with her signature strokes.
Perhaps Kasatkina’s game is made for the top of the charts, and this week at Wimbledon we are seeing yet another step in that direction. If it isn’t, no matter—that’s an issue for another time. For now she’s on the rise, both as tennis player and fan favorite.