“This is why we’re good” – Daria Kasatkina and Arina Rodionova break down Eastern Europe’s mental toll in tennis

Daria Kasatkina and Arina Rodionova recently discussed the pressures of a professional tennis career and the "Eastern European background" that often leads to success in the sport. The conversation was shared on Dasha's YouTube channel, "What the Vlog."

During the French Open, both players recorded a candid conversation about what victory truly means when you're on the WTA Tour. Kasatkina, currently world No. 16, joined world No. 220 Rodionova to talk about their experiences on Tour.

The two have often shown themselves to be close friends on Tour. They both share Russian origins, though Rodionova changed to Australian citizenship back in 2014 after her marriage to Australian Rules footballer Ty Vickery, while Kasatkina made her flag change public two months ago.

During their time in Paris, Kasatkina and Rodionova reflected together on the demands of life on Tour and the difficulties in truly enjoying victories in the middle of the season. "For nine years of professional career, I've been surrounded by people who are very pushy," said Kasatkina. "If I lose the match, I knew it's going to be 2 hours of — you know, not the brainwash but — these conversations where everyone is quite negative and stuff, and it's two days of bad atmosphere because everyone is so sad. I mean, coaches as well, a lot of girls would relate."

Regarding this, former top-100 player Rodionova mentioned both players' origins as Russian tennis players. "This is a prime example of an Eastern European background,” she said pointing Kasatkina. “And the question everyone asks is, 'Why are people from Eastern Europe really good at sports?' This is why. Because after we lose, we get destroyed."

Currently, there are five Russian tennis players within the top 30 and a total of 12 within the top 100. Additionally, there are players like Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka at world No. 1, and a strong contingent of Ukrainians with four players in the top 40, led by Elina Svitolina. "I feel like it's in our blood already," Rodionova added. "I ran after the car once to home — lucky my dad wasn't driving very fast. But it's like, yeah, something you know you're going to get in trouble or something bad is going to happen."

"The problem is that negative emotions are so much stronger than positive, but it's not just in tennis, that's everywhere. And for us, like if we win, it's just kind of, 'Yeah, I won, it's fine, it's a relief, it's normal. You got the job done.' But if you lose, it's the end of the world," the world No. 220 added.

"So if you lose more than usually, the whole month, half a year, year, turns into like hell basically and it sucks, because we can't really even celebrate the wins because, first of all, you've got a match tomorrow so it's not like you can actually be happy, you're doing your recovery, you need to prepare for the next round."

"Okay, you win the tournament," and how often does that happen? "If you won a couple of times in a year, if you're like really, really good, or some people if you don't win a title in the whole year, is also kind of normal. Even if you play next week, there's always something to do, so you can't really just sit down and celebrate."