Daria Kasatkina has a tough clash coming up in Berlin! While the tournament has started in full swing, her second-round match is something that has stressed and annoyed her at the same time. Knowing that Aryna Sabalenka will be her next opponent, Kasatkina recently shared her hilarious reaction to learning about her, at the WTA Berlin tournament, which quickly went viral.

As soon as the interviewer said, “Your next opponent will be Sabalenka,” Kasatkina shot back with a frank and hilarious “Sh*t.” Her honest response made the interviewer laugh, so he just said, “That’s all I wanted to know.”

Kasatkina came within two points of defeat in the second-set tiebreak against Marta Kostyuk in the first round of the tournament. Grass is the most successful surface for Kasatkina in terms of win percentage. Despite not having a big serve, she returns well and uses her defense to steal points. She used her power and strength to stand tall against Kostyuk, but her second round won’t be that easy.

While the two-time Grand Slam champion is one of the toughest competitions to deal with, it will be interesting to see whether the Russian tennis player will be able to get over the third-ranked player or not, looking at her reaction.

Sabalenka has reached the finals in Madrid and Rome, but in both contests, she lost the championship round to Iga Swiatek. However, just after that in the French Open, her journey came to an end against Mirra Andreeva in the quarter-final round. On the other hand, while she might not have lifted a victory in a while, she has not faced defeat in the early stages of any tournament in the past few months.

Nevertheless, things have gotten a bit exhausting for the former world number one, as she recently dropped a huge bomb, on her Paris Olympics participation.

Aryna Sabalenka to skip the Paris Olympics, but why? 

The third-ranked player in the world has declared that she will not participate in the Olympics in Paris, opting to prioritize her health and get ready for the next round of hardcourt competitions. In a conversation during the Berlin event, she stated, “Especially with all the struggles I’ve been struggling with the last months, I feel I have to take care of my health. It’s too much for the scheduling and I made the decision to take care of my health. I prefer to have a little rest to make sure physically and health-wise I’m ready for the hard courts.” 

She’s already started preparing for the grass courts, having trained for a week in Wimbledon‘s Aorangi Park. Although she had a difficult transition at first, the 26-year-old tennis star is optimistic that she will soon find her game on the grass. She is yet to claim a grass championship, but her resume includes two Wimbledon semifinal appearances, suggesting that she has a lot of promise on this surface.

Nevertheless, what are your thoughts on Kasatkina facing Sabalenka in Berlin? Do let us know in the comment section below.