Anna Kalinskaya reached the final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships including defeating Iga Swiatek en route in a landmark run for the 25-year-old Russian who will head into the top 25 next week. She had to go through qualifying so was in Dubai early and was a feature on Daria Kasatkina's latest vlog.
Kasatkina alongside girlfriend Natalia Zabiiako have their vlog together where they speak to players before and during tournaments and document the success of the former. At the Players' Party, Kalinskaya was a feature as she has been in the past showing off her humerous side.
"This is when you came to the after party and realized that you had come to the wrong place. I don't usually visit the Players Party," she said. Asked why she is there as a result, she said that it was the only option. "Because the players restaurant is closed. When I was getting ready, I think there is no one, Dasha (Daria Kasatkina) is not there and who else do I need? And I think, why go? And then I think, but I need to eat. You are here, this is actually a surprise a bonus."
She was then asked what is the perfect Players Party for her which gleamed a hilarious response. "Well it goes without saying, remove all these people," laughed Kalinskaya.
Kasatkina spoke about Kalinskaya's sleep schedule and asked how early she gets up and the Russian joked that she didn't even know she'd qualified for the main draw as she was playing half the matches in her sleep. "9:30 is early, 10:00 is ok. I actually don't even remember these matches because I played them in my sleep. Actually five minutes of stretching and then I went to my room to sleep for three hours. Then the draw came out, they told me, you are at the main draw and I was like well, wow."
"What is the meaning of victory for you," quipped Kasatkina. "In money," replied Kalinskaya simply. "What is the meaning of victory? Ask later, in six months I'll come up with an answer."