ROLAND GARROS

May 25, 2026

Daria Kasatkina

Press Conference

D. KASATKINA/Z. Sonmez

6-4, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Daria, congratulations. A good win today against a strong opponent. Can you give us your overall thoughts and reactions from the match?

DARIA KASATKINA: Yeah, very tough match. Honestly, the conditions were brutal, so really happy also to start the tournament. Grand Slam, it's always very tricky. You never know how you're going to face it, but yeah, really happy there. Really proud of myself how I was able to handle that.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Daria, you were saying the other day you'd had to swim through a lot of --

DARIA KASATKINA: Shit.

Q. Correct. What do you feel today? Do you feel as though you're coming out the other side? How is it going?

DARIA KASATKINA: Well, today was one of the matches where I think maybe we didn't produce, like, the fabulous level of tennis. But, you know, it's very hot, the conditions are tough. The ball is flying everywhere. We step on court, first one, we were playing at 11:00, so it's first match on a slam.

I mean, that's a lot of things to go through, but honestly, I think a couple of weeks ago I would probably lose this match. Today I was able to win it. Maybe not playing my best, but being there mentally, you know, like very present.

Yeah, this is the most important. Even when you're getting out of the shit, doesn't mean that you're going to play unbelievable every single match. That's not how tennis works. It's more about your, like, mental state.

Today I showed that it was there, and that's the most important.

Q. Daria, we talk a lot about confidence, especially when you're in a bad run. How do you snap out of that and then suddenly become confident?

DARIA KASATKINA: Unfortunately, it's not happening overnight, or you cannot inject it in your veins. It's just something you build up.

Sometimes one shot can change it. At the same time, maybe winning, like, five matches in a row cannot change it. You know, you never know when you're going to have it back. That's why you have to always keep looking for that.

I said many times that it's very easy to lose it and so tough to get it back. That's why I have to just, you know, try to fight. As I said, the only thing you can control is to fight for every ball.

You cannot control how you feel. You cannot control the level of your confidence. So the only thing you can control is to give your 100% every single day.

Q. Is that why it's so easy to lose it, because you can't control it?

DARIA KASATKINA: Well, unfortunately, yes. I mean, this feeling is so tiny. Yeah, you can lose it very, very, very easy. You can lose it with one bad loss or even one bad frame, let's say.

Yeah, that's why, like, your level and your self-esteem cannot depend on how confident you feel hitting the tennis ball, because at the end, it's important, but not the most important. I don't think Rafa, Roger, and Novak, they felt the ball every single time they step on court. They were winning with something else.

Q. When the conditions are so tough, when Roland Garros thinks they're the Australian Open, what's the mindset? What are you telling yourself before the match? How did you prepare? When you're on the court, what do you know, just, okay, going to have to go through it, what a battle?

DARIA KASATKINA: Honestly, I don't remember the last time it was so hot at Roland Garros, you know? Maybe one day, but we're going to have it, like, for the whole week or something.

Yeah, first of all, when you see the conditions for your next match, you are mentally preparing for that. Then physically it still can be very, very tough.

I mean, during even our match you could see that both of us were going up and down, you know? You can suddenly just get out of the bench and feel that your focus dropped. That's part of the game.

I mean, we are playing outdoors all the time. I mean, most of the time. So this is a battle which you have to also win. I mean, part of the game. Whoever adapts better to today's conditions gets it.

It would be different if we would be an indoor sport, but we're not.

Q. This time last year, this was your first Grand Slam as an Australian. I'm just wondering a year on, you've been through so much during that period. Can you just give us an idea of what you've been through, and do you feel as though you've come out the other side in terms of the -- I mean, at the end of last year?

DARIA KASATKINA: I've been through a lot, but I already forgot half of it. This is what happens when, you know, you're just trying to, you know, go through the tough times. Then eventually you just find yourself finally somewhere, and you are forgetting bad things. This is how our brain works.

But, yeah, I mean, last year, especially the end of the year, was tough. I had to finish the season early. I had to take a longer break, which helped me a lot. So I had, let's say -- I was exhausted mentally, so I didn't have motivation. I mean, in a way that I didn't have energy to compete.

At the beginning of the year I had a different problem. So I had the energy, but I was just, let's say, too much weary. I was getting really tired. I wanted to win too much, so I couldn't control my emotions. I had a completely different problem here.

I had to find a way how to now deal with that one. It's also part of the game. It's part of the brain, but yeah, I think mental battles are more difficult to solve, but I think this is what everyone is going through.

Q. How important was that second set, because it fluctuated a bit confidence-wise? Considering all you have been through and you've spoken about with your level of tennis, et cetera, where would you say you feel your tennis is at the moment? If it was on a percentage basis, how would you rate it?

DARIA KASATKINA: Well, first of all, yeah, the second set was super important, because I won the first set, you know, in the very tight score, 6-4, but playing almost an hour in this heat. Didn't went well at the beginning of the second set, being 3-1 down.

As I said, I felt that my focus went a little bit down. She stayed there. Then it switched. So, yeah, I was just telling myself to, you know, as soon as I have a chance to come back in this set, I have to take it. Thankfully I did it.

Talking about the level of my tennis now, difficult to rate because I was just coming from the tournament in Strasbourg where the conditions were complete opposite to what we are having here. I felt actually, like, a bit better there.

Coming here it's changing completely, the scenario of your game. So I had to adapt to this.

In the percentage, I don't know, I would say, let's say, 65, but mentally, emotionally I think I am higher, which balance it a bit better. But I still got a long way to swim in the shit for a little longer (smiling).