Daria Kasatkina: Her Journey To Representing Australia | The Sit-Down

In our final episode of The Sit-Down for 2025, Viv and Matt are joined by Daria Kasatkina, who in March made the switch to representing Australia. It was a big decision in an emotionally intense season that the 28-year-old ended early due to burnout. Now more refreshed, Kasatkina chatted from her base in Spain, where she is preparing for her first Summer of Tennis representing the green and gold. She takes listeners right back to the beginning: how her parents, both professional athletes themselves, set her up for success, and how she developed her crafty, nuanced style of play. She reflects on her junior Slam success, memories of watching idol Rafael Nadal, and career milestones which include cracking the top 10 in 2018 and reaching the 2022 Roland Garros semifinals. Plus, there’s some hot tennis takes in there too. This is a candid conversation with one of the sport’s more thoughtful stars, and one who is excited to continue representing her adopted nation – where she loves the nature, coffee and people – in 2026. Subscribe to keep up with the latest from the Australian Open: http://bit.ly/AustralianOpenTV Welcome to the official Australian Open TV YouTube channel. The Australian Open 2026 main draw runs from 18 January - 1 February in Melbourne. The tournament takes place for the 114th time and is the first Grand Slam of the year. Jannik Sinner is the men’s singles reigning champion and Madison Keys is the women’s singles reigning champion. The tournament takes place on 25 hard courts, including Rod Laver Arena, Margaret Court Arena and John Cain Arena. Look out for highlights, press conferences, memorable moments and much more! Facebook: / australianopen X: / australianopen Instagram: / australianopen TikTok: / ausopen Website: https://ausopen.com/ Follow live coverage of all matches, breaking news, updates, highlights and more on: Nine (Australia): https://wwos.nine.com.au Eurosport (Europe): https://www.eurosport.com ESPN (Americas): https://www.espn.com beIN Sports (South East Asia, MENA): https://www.beinsports.com And visit: https://www.ausopen.com/broadcasters for all our broadcast partners worldwide