LONDON: Daria Kasatkina might have almost a decade of experience when it comes to playing Grand Slam tennis, but the Australian was so nervous heading into her Wimbledon match that she threw up whilst walking to the court.
The 16th seed was yet to win a match on grass this season after losing in the opening rounds of tournaments in London (Queen’s), Berlin and Eastbourne. All of those defeats were to players ranked outside the top 40. To put this into perspective, the last time she entered Wimbledon without winning a grass-court match that same year was in 2019.
Despite her recent results, Kasatkina returned to winning ways with a 7-5, 6-3, win over Emiliana Arango, who is another player yet to win a match on grass in 2025. It wasn’t the cleanest of performances from the Australian, who hit 38 unforced errors compared to just 21 winners. On top of that, Kasatkina won just eight out of 26 points behind her second serve.
“I’m very happy that I was able to win this match because coming into the tournament after losing back-to-back matches is not easy,” said Kasatkina.
“I’m happy how I was able to manage those nerves because at the start of the day was very, very tough for me.”
The world No.18 got herself so worked up for the match that she ended up being sick just five meters from the court. A new first in her career.
“The little accident happened completely out of nerves,” she commented.
“There was nothing else wrong with me except this. Not having enough confidence, losing a couple of matches, the first Match of the day….this doesn’t help me to feel more calm.
“As soon as I stepped onto the court, it was much better. But before the match, I was so stressed, maybe too much.”
Kasatkina’s honest admission highlights the pressure tennis players face, especially at Grand Slams, which hands out more prize money and ranking points than any other tournament. Kasakina is guaranteed to earn at least £66,000 at Wimbledon just for winning one main draw match.
“We’re humans, we work hard. We want to achieve big things,” she continued.
“And when not everything going our way, we’re getting frustrated and nervous.
“There’s for sure nothing to be ashamed of. It’s something you cannot control.”
It was nine years ago when Kaskatkina made her debut at The All England Club. On her debut, she made it through to the third round before losing a marathon clash against Venus Williams, who prevailed 10-8 in the final set. In 2018, she achieved her best result yet at the event by reaching the quarter-finals.
Now more mature on the Tour, her perspective of being a player is that you have to embrace the bad moments, as well as the good.
“We cannot just always feel or think positively because it’s not always good. Sometimes you have to face the reality,” she explains.
“And if you see that done something wrong outside of the court, you have to face this and accept and face it and try to fix it.”
Kasatkina will next play Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu.
