{"id":85419,"date":"2023-04-30T15:15:59","date_gmt":"2023-04-30T13:15:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/?p=85419"},"modified":"2023-04-30T15:15:59","modified_gmt":"2023-04-30T13:15:59","slug":"kasatkina-finding-way-back-to-her-happy-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/kasatkina-finding-way-back-to-her-happy-place\/","title":{"rendered":"Kasatkina finding way back to her happy place"},"content":{"rendered":"

Daria Kasatkina is on a mission this season to unlock her creative side once again on the tennis court and she is putting in the hard yards in order to achieve that.<\/span><\/p>\n

The No.8 seed, who claimed a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Lesia Tsurenko to reach the fourth round at the Mutua Madrid Open for a second consecutive year on Sunday, broke into the top 10 for the first time at the end of 2018, showcasing a unique game that combined craftiness with power.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kasatkina struggled for a few years after that but returned to the top 10 last season after reaching a maiden Grand Slam semi-final at the French Open and qualifying for the WTA Finals for the first time.<\/span><\/p>\n

She parted ways with her coach Carlos Martinez in February and joined forces with Italian Flavio Cipolla, who is helping her recapture her artistic touch.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are now working to get back creativity in my game because the last few years I was more in the discipline way but now I think we\u2019re working more to open myself on the court,\u201d Kasatkina told reporters in Indian Wells last month.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor me it\u2019s important to work hard but also to feel good outside of the court and now I feel very good. The atmosphere for me is very important in the team and I\u2019m enjoying how everything is.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Looking to reach her second career Madrid quarter-final when she faces Veronika Kudermetova or Anastasia Potapova in the last-16 stage on Monday, Kasatkina has yet to drop a set through her opening two matches, having dismissed her good friend Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in straights on Friday before manoeuvring past Tsurenko.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 25-year-old revealed this week she has been working with a psychologist, who has been helping her manage things both on and off the court.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tough because we are like a hamster in a wheel, it\u2019s nonstop, we don\u2019t have many breaks, it\u2019s a never-ending story; and at the end it\u2019s all the same, every year it\u2019s more or less the same story, every week,\u201d said Kasatkina of the unrelenting nature of the tennis tour.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou need someone to help you find something else because when you\u2019re just starting to be professional, I remember my first year I was just in love with everything, I was so excited about everything. I could spend 24 hours in the tennis club and be so happy.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOf course this changes when you are two years doing the same, seeing the same people, the same facilities, everything the same. Obviously you start to get a bit tired.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very difficult to find the answers and the way, on your own, so that\u2019s why it\u2019s good sometimes to find help in someone else; a professional who can show you the way, how to find other things to enjoy on tour. Because personally, for me it\u2019s tough to travel every single week, I\u2019m not a big fan of that. If I didn’t have to, I wouldn\u2019t travel. I have to do it because of my job, and for me it\u2019s tough. So that\u2019s why I have to work on it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Against Tsurenko on Sunday, Kasatkina twice lost her break advantage before she finally wrapped up the set in 50 minutes with another break in the 10th<\/sup>\u00a0game.<\/span><\/p>\n

After trading breaks with the Ukrainian early in the second, Kasatkina found her footing and never looked back.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really happy with my performance today. At the beginning was tough, the first set was very tight, but then after I closed the first set I got looser and I started to play a bit better,\u201d said the Barcelona-based Kasatkina.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m superstitious and I don\u2019t want to say too many good things but I feel pretty well on court to be honest. The past few months were not easy and now I\u2019m just trying to get back the confidence and the joy of being on court and I\u2019m making some success in this way. I\u2019m happy to come back on clay again.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Daria Kasatkina is on a mission this season to unlock her creative side once again on the tennis court and she is putting in the hard yards in order to achieve that. The No.8 seed, who claimed a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Lesia Tsurenko to reach the fourth round at the Mutua Madrid Open for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":85420,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[875,837,843],"tags":[835,997,831],"class_list":["post-85419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mutua-news-en","category-noticias-tenis-en","category-noticias-tenis-femenino-en","tag-2023-es-en","tag-daria-kasatkina-en-2","tag-mutua-madrid-open-en-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85419"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85422,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85419\/revisions\/85422"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mutuamadridopen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}