Russian tennis player, Daria Kasatkina, the 11th player in the world, expressed her concern over the unstable political situation in Russia on Monday after her victory in the first round of the WTA Eastbourne tournament over Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina. The latter did not shake hands with Kasatkina after losing in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1, on the grass of Eastbourne, just as Elina Svitolina had refused to do at Roland-Garros. But Kasatkina, who has repeatedly taken a stand against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, had already expressed his understanding for this attitude.
“A big mess”
Asked after the match about the aborted rebellion of the leader of the paramilitary group Wagner, Evguéni Prigojine, last weekend, Kasatkina did not, as often, mince words. “What I feel is shit, honestly. I’m not going to hide it” “My family, my parents are still in Russia. As you could see, the last few days it’s been a big mess there too,” she said, while again emphasizing that Ukrainians are “in a much worse situation.”
“I’m worried about my friends because my best friends live in Voronezh, the city where the guy entered with his private army (Prigojine…) I’m very worried about the people I love,” he said. she confided. In the next round, Kasatkina will face the Czech Karolina Pliskova.
For her part, despite her defeat, the Ukrainian Kalinina admitted that tennis was a way for her to escape the reality of the war in her country. “Since the beginning of the war, I followed everything, every day. It’s a lot. At times, I was overwhelmed,” she explained. But on the tennis court, I just try to unplug my head. It helps me a lot,” she added.