{"id":91752,"date":"2025-10-06T12:09:24","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T16:09:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=91752"},"modified":"2025-10-06T12:09:24","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T16:09:24","slug":"daria-kasatkina-ends-her-2025-season-early","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/10\/06\/daria-kasatkina-ends-her-2025-season-early\/","title":{"rendered":"Daria Kasatkina Ends Her 2025 Season Early"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Daria Kasatkina has officially called time on her 2025 season. In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/kasatkina\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">statement shared on social media<\/a>, the Russian-born Australian announced she would end her campaign almost a month early.<\/p>\n<p>The decision comes as little surprise, as Kasatkina has clearly been struggling since the grass-court swing. After the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/category\/french-open\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">French Open<\/a>, she managed to win only five of the 19 matches she played (two at <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/category\/wimbledon\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Wimbledon<\/a> and two at the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/category\/us-open\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">US Open<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>She hit rock bottom at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wtatennis.com\/tournaments\/china-open\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">China Open<\/a> last week, where she was swept aside by Sonay Kartal, 6-3 6-0. Hence, Kasatkina decided it was better to shut down her season, get the rest she needs, and focus on 2026.<\/p>\n<h2>Daria\u2019s Honesty<\/h2>\n<p>The message Kasatkina posted on social media was remarkably honest. She didn\u2019t look for excuses but openly admitted to \u201cnot being fine,\u201d something she said fans could already sense from her disappointing results.<\/p>\n<p>She also addressed the demanding schedule, echoing <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/10\/01\/tennis-calendar-debate-heats-up\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">complaints from Iga \u015awi\u0105tek and Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> about the tennis season being too long, while revealing personal struggles&#8211;including not being able to see her father for four years.<\/p>\n<p>Currently ranked No. 19 in the world and No. 34 in the Race, Kasatkina is expected to drop several spots. Despite some bright moments, like reaching the fourth round at the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/category\/australian-open\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Australian Open<\/a>, her season has fallen short of expectations.<\/p>\n<p>Not only did she fail to reach any finals (she had reached 14 across the previous four seasons, winning six titles), but in 2024 she also qualified for the WTA Finals in Riyadh as an alternate, replacing Jessica Pegula&#8211;only to lose 6-1 6-0 to Iga \u015awi\u0105tek in the final round-robin match.<\/p>\n<p><a  id=\"797I0lJoSNR4LssBcC6H0Q\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2237672881\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'797I0lJoSNR4LssBcC6H0Q',sig:'eyBAfNnvOkKhWgw00A9GGEp_Uok_0lQa8WgCxJkxeWA=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2237672881',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>Not the Only One<\/h3>\n<p>Kasatkina is not the only player to end her season early. Over the past week, three other top players <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/10\/01\/five-tennis-players-end-2025-season-early\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">have done the same<\/a>. Ukraine\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/09\/23\/elina-svitolina-mental-health-2025\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Elina Svitolina<\/a> said she needed time to rest and recharge. Brazil\u2019s Beatriz Haddad Maia announced she wanted to focus on her health and take extra rest. Spain\u2019s Paula Badosa was forced to do so after another injury setback at the China Open.<\/p>\n<h3>Kasatkina\u2019s Statement<\/h3>\n<p>\u201c\u2019I\u2019m fine.\u2019 Words I\u2019m sure we\u2019ve all heard many women from different walks of life use \u2014 knowing they\u2019re not fine, they\u2019re far from fine, but they keep going, breaking themselves a little more each time.<\/p>\n<p>This is me. 2025 has been my \u2018I\u2019m fine\u2019 year.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve been far from fine for a long time, and truth be told, my results and performances show that. The fans aren\u2019t stupid; they can see it too. I\u2019ve kept a lid on my feelings because I don\u2019t want to seem like I\u2019m moaning, weak or, God forbid, ungrateful for this amazing life we live as professional tennis players.<\/p>\n<p>The truth is, I\u2019ve hit a wall and I can\u2019t continue. I need a break \u2014 a break from the monotonous daily grind of life on tour, the suitcases, the results, the pressure, the same faces (sorry, girls)\u2026 everything that comes with this life.<\/p>\n<p>The schedule is too much. Mentally and emotionally, I\u2019m at breaking point \u2014 and sadly, I\u2019m not alone. Add to that the emotional and mental stress related to my nationality switch, not being able to see my parents (four years now without seeing my father), plus the ongoing battles to gain full Australian competition eligibility \u2014 it\u2019s a lot. There\u2019s only so much I can handle as an individual woman, all while competing against the best female athletes in the world.<\/p>\n<p>If this makes me weak, then so be it \u2014 I\u2019m weak. But I know I\u2019m strong, and I will get stronger by stepping away, recharging, regrouping and re-energising. It\u2019s time I finally listened to myself \u2014 my mind, my heart, and my body.<\/p>\n<p>2025 is done for me, and like me, it\u2019s been far from fine.<\/p>\n<p>So I\u2019m joining the 2025 \u2018tap-out club.\u2019 I\u2019ll be just fine, though, and I look forward to seeing you all in 2026 \u2014 energised and ready to rock!<\/p>\n<p>With love,<br \/>\nDasha\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Daria Kasatkina has officially called time on her 2025 season. In a statement shared on social media, the Russian-born Australian announced she would end her campaign almost a month early. The decision comes as little surprise, as Kasatkina has clearly been struggling since the grass-court swing. After the French Open, she managed to win only [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5454,"featured_media":84825,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9,4],"tags":[2840,416,394,4315,3535,12171],"class_list":["post-91752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-news","category-wta","tag-beatriz-haddad-maia","tag-daria-kasatkina","tag-elina-svitolina","tag-iga-swiatek","tag-jessica-pegula","tag-paula-badosa"],"modified_by":"Yesh Ginsburg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5454"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91752"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91752\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91777,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91752\/revisions\/91777"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}