"Those thoughts come when you’re in that desperate state": Anna Kalinskaya contemplated cage dive with sharks after Australian Open loss

Anna Kalinskaya arrived at the Australian Open with a sense of calm rather than expectation. Travelling with a reduced team and focusing on simplicity, the Russian produced another solid run in Melbourne before exiting in the third round against world No.1 Iga Świątek — a match that, despite the scoreline, revealed just how fine the margins are at the top of women’s tennis.

Speaking to former Olympic champion Elena Vesnina on her podcast, Kalinskaya reflected on that defeat, her evolving mentality, and the personal journey that has shaped her career — from childhood pressure and near-retirement to finding belief again at the right moment. She is now at the Qatar Open facing Emma Navarro this evening.

Kalinskaya admitted that playing elite opponents now feels very different compared to earlier in her career. “When you play a top-10 player for the first time, they don’t really know you — your shots, your strengths,” she explained. “But once you’ve already played them, you need a Plan A and a Plan B.”

Against Swiatek, she was caught off guard by the Pole’s aggression early on. “She started extremely aggressively, even on the return,” Kalinskaya said. “That’s not really her usual style. I expected longer rallies, patience, waiting for short balls. Instead, she came out firing.”

Forced to raise her level immediately, Kalinskaya responded well in the second set, breaking early and playing deeper and more assertively. But one crucial game in the decider proved costly. “I lost a very important game and I got upset. After that, I kind of dropped out of the match mentally and physically,” she admitted. “Against top players, you just can’t allow that. When they sense a chance, they take it.”

Unlike many players at her level, Kalinskaya travelled through the Australian swing with just her coach, Patricia Tarabini. It was a deliberate choice — and one rooted partly in experience. “My best Australian Open result, the quarterfinal, was also when I was only with Patricia,” she said. “So this time I decided to do the same. Maybe there was a bit of superstition.”

She wanted a quieter environment to start the season, free from added pressure. “I wanted to begin without extra people, without everyone pulling me in different directions,” Kalinskaya explained. “Of course, I was still working remotely with my fitness coach, but mentally it was calmer.”

While she acknowledges that a bigger team is necessary at times, she feels balance is key. “For certain tournaments, this setup is comfortable. But not for all,” she said. “Sometimes I need more people, sometimes I need space.”

Away from the courts, Kalinskaya tries to break the routine whenever possible — even if only briefly.

In Melbourne, she attended the theatre for the first time in Australia, though she didn’t last the full three-hour performance. “It was late, the day had been heavy, and I still had training the next day,” she laughed. “But I need those distractions. I get tired of routine. I need to recharge.”

Travel, however, remains one of the hardest parts of the job. “The first week is always very hard,” she admitted. “Time zones, homesickness, sadness — it’s not easy at all.”

That emotional toll was evident during a tough loss in Adelaide, where Kalinskaya even contemplated a spontaneous cage dive with sharks. “I couldn’t sleep after the match,” she said. “I thought maybe that shock would reset me mentally. I didn’t go — but those thoughts come when you’re in that desperate state.”

After struggling physically in previous years, Kalinskaya made a key adjustment ahead of the 2025 season. “This time I did four weeks instead of six,” she explained. “Last year I arrived at tournaments already exhausted, then my back got injured.”

Training in Miami with Tarabini, her fitness coach, and physiotherapist, she focused on efficiency rather than volume. “I felt fresher mentally and physically,” she said. “Probably my best preseason.”

Kalinskaya prefers privacy during training and often hits with male sparring partners rather than other WTA players, though she did enjoy a session with her friend Caty McNally.

“I like competing,” she said. “And Patricia is always telling me, ‘Anya, calm down.’”

Born into a highly athletic family — with both parents former badminton players — Kalinskaya was exposed to sport from an early age. She swam successfully, played badminton, and eventually gravitated toward tennis. "At around five, I picked up a racket and played against the wall,” she recalled. “When my mom asked if I wanted a new racket, that was it.”

Her choice came with pressure, particularly from her mother. “She’s very competitive,” Kalinskaya said. “Some of her unfulfilled dreams were projected onto me.”

Despite that, tennis also became her social world, and she balanced sport with a strong commitment to education, influenced by her grandparents, who were teachers.

At 17, though, everything nearly stopped. “After losing US Open qualifying from 5–1 up, I decided I would only play if I wanted to,” she said.

The turning point came when she joined the training group around Svetlana Kuznetsova, working with Evgenia Manyukova. “She believed in me,” Kalinskaya said. “That felt like a second chance.”

Soon after, Kalinskaya travelled to Australia for the first time, qualified for a Grand Slam main draw for the first time — and rediscovered her belief.

Now an established presence on tour, Kalinskaya understands that progress is rarely linear. “There’s less freedom than before,” she admitted. “But there’s more understanding.”

Against the very best, the margins are brutally small — and that, she knows, is where the next step lies. “Against top players,” Kalinskaya said, “you have to be there every moment.”