Daria Kasatakina, the Russian No 1 and one of the few players from her country to publicly condemn the Putin regime’s war in Ukraine, says tennis has been her only source of refuge from daily anxiety about the conflict.
Kasatkina, who began her campaign at the Eastbourne International with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina, said she has found it difficult to switch off from news coverage of the invasion, much of which she has found overwhelming.
The 26-year-old described the situation as a “complete nightmare” last year, calling for an end to the conflict. In the same interview, Kasatkina also came out as gay, admitting that she feared she would never be able to return to her homeland, where “gay propaganda” and anti-war sentiment are both subject to legal strictures.
“Obviously Ukrainians are experiencing a way worse situation,” said Kastakina. “But also, I mean, I can feel the same. I’m very worried for the people I love.
“It feels shit, honestly. I’m not going to hide it. It’s tough to face the circumstances for such a long time already. Unfortunately, as we see, particularly me or, like, tennis players, there’s nothing we can do about it. We have to just follow what’s going on.
“I’m just trying to be a good human in this scenario. That’s all I can do. And do my job as playing tennis. That’s it.
“When I’m on the court, I am in a different state of mind, which actually helps me to turn off from all this. Because since the beginning of the war, I was actually following everything, every day.
“It’s a lot. I was overwhelmed in some moments, and I’m just trying to turn off my head, at least on the tennis court. It helps me a lot.”
Kasatkina has friends and family in Russia and the abortive rebellion led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the paramilitary chief whose troops briefly bore down on Moscow at the weekend, did nothing to allay her unease.
“I have friends in Russia,” said Kasatkina. “My family, my parents are still in Russia. As you can see, the last few days it’s been a big mess there. I’m worried for my friends, because my best friends, they actually live in Voronezh, [which] was one of the cities where [Prigozhin’s forces] entered.
“So I was pretty worried about that, because they were very scared. So was I, because I couldn’t do anything except to offer them to go to my city, because it’s further [away], so was not involved in the situation.”
Kasatkina’s stance on the war has earned the respect of Ukrainian players, including Elina Svitolina, the former world No 3, who hailed the world No 11 as “a brave one” after defeating her at Roland Garros earlier this month.