Game for a laugh
Kooky, quirky or endearingly crazy. Call it whatever variation you like, Daria Kasatkina will tell you herself she’s cut from a different mould.
And she’ll tell you with a grin of self-deprecation.
This is one 21-year-old not taking herself remotely seriously, even if she is fast becoming a week two staple.
After claiming a come-from-behind victory over Alison Van Uytvanck on Monday, the Russian found herself into a second straight Grand Slam quarter-final.
To the uninitiated then, it is a fitting time to pay more attention to the No.14 seed, to gain an insight into the mind that drives one of the most inventive games on the women’s tour.
Hers is a character as creative on court as off it.
“This is tough because I cannot see myself from the side. I'm just like an artist and I'm playing with the heart,” Kasatkina said. “This is me, for sure.
“I'm completely crazy. Yeah, these things I can do are ridiculous sometimes. My friends and my team know it.
“I mean, I am not boring in life and I'm not boring on the court. Together, it's connected.”
So sharp is her memory, of all the shots – spectacular, rotten or otherwise – during a match, the Russian recalls “almost everything”.
“I can remember the shot which was five years ago in this tournament in this court,” she said.
Case in point, the moment the match swung in her favour against the Belgian. “Yeah, the short cross-court,” Kasatkina said in reference to a backhand return she made down a set and a break.
“She made the same shot on 6-5, 30-15 on my serve. She played completely the same shot from the return. Just payback,” she laughed.
Van Uytvanck had been striking the ball imperiously to sneak the opening set.
It wasn’t as if Kasatkina was doing much wrong, she was just up against a woman riding the confidence of having beaten defending champion Garbiñe Muguruza and No.28 seed Anett Kontaveit.
“After you're losing a set like this, you're sitting on the chair, and all you are thinking about … you have holidays after Wimbledon. You're like, ‘OK, I will try’,” Kasatkina said.
“But at the end the big champions, that's how they're winning. They're pushing themselves in any situation. That's what I'm trying to do, too.”
Kasatkina reeled off 11 of the last 15 games to prevail 6-7(6), 6-3, 6-2 and book a second straight appearance in the last eight of a Slam.
In Paris, at the same stage, she managed just four games against Sloane Stephens. She remembers that match, too, down to every point.
“That was tough because first [Grand Slam] quarter-final in my life, playing on Philippe Chatrier against the very solid player, Sloane Stephens, very athletic,” she said. “She was just way better.
“Tough to say what I could do better. I didn't even watch that match, I was so disappointed after … I think it's just experience. I need more experience on these big stages.”
She’ll get that experience against 2016 runner-up Angelique Kerber, the No.11 seed and highest-ranked woman still standing.
The artist will be playing from the heart for that first Slam semi-final berth.
