Daria Kasatkina splits with long-time coach after rough start to 2023



by DZEVAD MESIC

Daria Kasatkina splits with long-time coach after rough start to 2023

Daria Kasatkina has decided to end her partnership with coach Carlos Martinez, as reported by Fernando Murciego. Kasatkina, 25, worked with Martinez for the past four years. Together, Kasatkina and Martinez made some notable results.

Last year, Kasatkina made her first Grand Slam semifinal at the French Open. Also last year, Kasatkina returned to the top-10 for the first time since 2019. But unfortunately, Kasatkina has had a rough start to 2023 as she is just 3-4.

As a result, Kasatkina has decided to make a change.

Kasatkina's 2023 season so far

Kasatkina kicked off her 2023 season at the Adelaide International 1, where she suffered a surprise defeat to rising teenage star Linda Noskova in the first round.

After an early exit in Adelaide, Kasatkina did much better at the Adelaide Internationa 2. In Adelaide 2, Kasatkina made the final before Belinda Bencic ousted her with a 6-0 6-2 score. After a deep Adelaide 2 run, Kasatkina was hoping to do something similar at the Australian Open.

But Kasatkina's run at Melbourne Park was a short one as the Russian suffered a shock 6-1 6-1 defeat to Varvara Gracheva in the first round. Due to heat and then rain, Kasatkina's match against Gracheva started 24 hours than initially scheduled.

When Kasatkina finally got on the court for the Gracheva match, she felt empty and it resulted in her delivering a stunningly bad performance. "I was quite empty. I just lost my mental battle with myself," Kasatkina said after her loss to Gracheva.

After the Australian Open, Kasatkina returned to action at the Abu Dhabi Open in early February. There, Kasatkina defeated Jil Teichmann in her opener before Qinwen Zheng defeated her in the quarterfinal. Then, Kasatkina competed in Doha.

In Doha, Kasatkina didn't make a deep run either as she beat Rebecca Marino in her opener before losing to Beatriz Haddad Maia in the round-of-16. Now, Kasatkina is set to play in Dubai, where she is the seventh-seeded player and has a first-round bye.

Daria Kasatkina