Osaka VS Kasatkina: A new rivalry has begun!

Hello guys! Today, I want to talk about one of my favorite sport, tennis and more especially about two amazing players: Osaka and Kasatkina.

There are some rivalries that are unforgettable like the one between the Starks and the Lannisters, or between Harry Potter and Voldemort. But that is for the movies and series. There are also some rivalries in tennis and we have already known some amazing ones on the female tour (WTA) tour like Navratilova and Evert, Graf and Seles or Venus and Serena, Clijsters and Henin and many others. It seems that we have found a new one.

Naomi Osaka and Daria Kasatkina are maybe not yet the most known players on the WTA tour but we won’t have to wait a long time until it will be the case. They can be opponents in Grand Slams finals and in many other tournaments. Every rivalry is different, sometimes you feel the competition, the hate between the players and sometimes you feel the friendship. Here it seems that this rivalry is one of the second kind but everything can change quickly sometimes. And I hope this rivalry will enter one day in the history of this sport because these two women are lovely, charismatic, nice and full of qualities but above all, they are full of talent, it is a pure pleasure to watch them play.

Daria Kasatkina

Daria Kasatkina is a Russian born in the city of Tolyatti in Samara Oblast in May 1997. She is only 21 and she has already reached the 11th place in the singles ranking this year. Just to improve your general knowledge, the city of Tolyatti is also well known for being the home of the largest Russian car manufacturer AvtoVAZ, better known as Lada in European countries. By the way, his father Serguey works there and her mother is a housewife.

The person who has the brilliant idea to bring her to tennis is his brother Aleksandr who is still very present in her coaching team. She began this sport at the age of 6. She won the French Open junior in 2014 and on the pro circuit she only won one single title, the tournament of Charleston in 2017. Her best year is by far 2018 with a final in Dubai and in Indian Wells where she falls against Svitolina and Osaka. We should probably give some credit for that to her new coach, the Belgian Philippe Dehaes who trains her since the beginning of the year.

Her game is really well fit for the game on clay with a lifted forehand, kicked serve, and she can also slice well and makes perfect drop shots. But furthermore, she is also the queen of jumping backhands and she is never afraid to realize tweeners, which is very unusual in women’s tennis.

In a nutshell, she is a very complete player, and watch this artist play on a tennis court is just a pure delight for the eyes. She is my new favorite on the tour and the fact that she is always smiling during interviews or when playing tennis makes her even more nice and pleasant. Finally, she likes football, and she is a supporter of the FC Barcelona. In conclusion, it is such a perfect woman.

Naomi Osaka

Naomi Osaka is a Haitian-American-Japanese player who decides to play for Japan. Her father is from Haiti and her mother from Japan. She is born in Osaka in October 1997 but she lives in the USA since she is 3. When she was a young child, she watched her big sister playing tennis and from this moment she wants to learn this sport and a tennis racket was already put in her hands at the age of 3.

She has some similarities with Serena physically but also in the way she plays tennis with a big serve and big strokes from both sides. She is not the kind of player who uses a lot of slices and drop shots, she prefers to hit balls as strong as she can and make winners. She did not play on the junior circuit. It is really this year that she makes a breakthrough with a fourth round at the Australian Open and the title in Indian Wells where she has beaten Sharapova, Radwanska, Pliskova, and Halep, the world number one. She is ranked 21 and I think she is still less consistent than Daria Kasatkina but when she is on the top of her form, she is nearly unbeatable, a little bit like players like Serena or Kvitova.

What’s next?

The French Open is coming and we will have the pleasure to watch these two in the second Grand Slam of the year. If I have to bet some pennies, I would probably put some of them on Daria Kasatkina because I think she is a great clay-court player and she will win many titles on clay. She can go very far in this tournament this year, even win it. And if it is not now, it will be for the coming years because I am convinced she has the potential to be a kind of new Justine Henin on clay.

Naomi Osaka can go far as well in any Grand Slam tournament but she is much more dangerous on fast surfaces. I think she is also able to win her first Slam this year, in Wimbledon or in the US Open. I find that she has some similarities with Serena Williams. We have for sure here two great champions, future winners for Grand Slams and number ones (or it would be such a shame), the only question is: When?

Just wait and see!