"Everyone can say thanks to me" - Daria Kasatkina jokingly takes credit for Barty's resurgence after the Aussie's "rock bottom" loss at Wimbledon 2018
ATP
Daria Kasatkina has jokingly taken credit for Ashleigh Barty's stunning transformation after defeating the now-retired player in the third round of the 2018 Wimbledon Championships.
In her 2022-released autobiography My Dream Time, the three-time Grand Slam champion revealed that she hit rock bottom when she lost that match against the Russian. Despite leading 4-1 in the first set, Barty lost the match 7-5, 6-3. An on-court outburst towards her team and coach Craig Tyzzer forced her to hire mental coach Ben Crowe.
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"The issue is that my good is great, but my bad is horrible. When I’m winning, I look like a million bucks but when my tactics aren’t working, I lack the maturity to solve my own problems," Barty wrote in her memoir. "I’m a 22-year-old highly trained professional athlete, but in this moment I decide on a public tantrum.
"Not just at losing the match and losing my sh*t, but losing my dignity too. I shun my closest supporters and cry myself to sleep that night, embarrassed and ashamed.”
Barty retired in March last year. World No. 8 Kasatkina, currently in Abu Dhabi for the WTA 500 tournament, recently shared her thoughts on the match, stating that she understood why Barty reacted in a certain way. The 25-year-old Russian then joked that tennis fans should thank her for playing a part in Barty's transformation.
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"I remember that match and I would have had the same attitude because I had like seven or eight net cords on deuce or breakpoints or 30-all," Kasatkina said. "So I know how she was feeling. It was a good match but luck was on my side on that day. I understand what she means. Everyone can say thanks to me because after that, Ash was the big pain in the a** for everyone. It's me."
The journalist who posted Daria Kasatkina's video inserted Taylor Swift's song It's Me from the Midnights album as soon as the tennis player said, "It's me." Kasatkina shared the clip, saying:
"That's exactly the song I was thinking about."
Growing up in a household where soccer was king, my earliest memories are filled with chants from packed stadiums and the rhythm of a ball being passed across neighborhood streets. But somewhere along the way, the quiet elegance and raw emotion of tennis pulled me in. What began as a curiosity became a lifelong passion; not just for the sport itself, but for the stories it tells: of grit, of heartbreak, of improbable comebacks and human resilience.
As a tennis writer, I bring the observational lens of someone who didn’t grow up in the sport, but fell in love with it as an outsider; a perspective that lets me see both its technical beauty and its emotional depth. Over the years working with TennisUpToDate, I’ve had the privilege of reaching more than 3.5 million readers worldwide, with one of my features ranking among the site’s top three articles.
With a background in storytelling and a creative mind always searching for meaning beyond the scoreboard, I aim to craft narratives that go deeper than results and rankings. Whether it’s a rising star breaking through or a veteran fighting off Father Time, I try to capture the heartbeat behind the headlines.
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