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Russian tennis player Daria Kasatkina wants her country's invasion of Ukraine to end.
The 25-year-old, ranked 12th in the WTA rankings, is Russia's top-ranked singles player. She is yet to reach a tournament final this year, but has won 27 of her 40 matches. Four of her losses have come against World No. 1 Iga Swiatek, most recently in the Roland Garros semifinals.
During an interview with blogger Vitya Kravchenko in Russian on his YouTube channel, she expressed a wish for Russia's Ukraine invasion - ongoing since the last week of February - to end. When asked what she wants the most at the moment, Kasatkina said:
"For the war to end. There hasn't been a single day since February 24 (when Russia invaded Ukraine) that I haven't read some news or haven't thought of for the day to pass by."
Except for the ban on Russian and Belarusian players at Wimbledon, Kasatkina said that she has been unaffected by the war. However, her heart goes out to people who have relatives in Ukraine, who are enduring a 'full-blown nightmare'. The 25-year-old wishes she could do something to stop the war.
"Really I have no connection with it (the war). I haven't been affected, thank God, barely minimum, Wimbledon and all that. ... But people who have relatives in Ukraine, specially when you start talking about Russia. I can't imagine what they are going through. It's full-blown nightmare. ... Without a thought, I would do anything I can (to end it), but unfortunately (I can't)."
Kasatkina last competed at Bad Homburg last month, where she made the quarterfinals and lost to Bianca Andreescu.
Daria Kasatkina reached her first Major semifinal this year
Daria Kasatkina has had a memorable year, especially at the Majors. After making the quarterfinals at Roland Garros four years ago, she went one round better at the claycourt Major this year.
The 25-year-old beat Veronika Kudermetova in straight sets to make her first Grand Slam singles semifinal. However, top seed and eventual champion Iga Swiatek turned out to be too hot for the Russian on the Parisian terre battue.
Continuing her marauding run through the draw, the World No. 1 made short work of Kasatkina, dropping only three games to make her second Roland Garros final in three years.
Swiatek would go on to beat Coco Gauff to win her second Major title two days later.
