Martinez no longer coaching Kasatkina: ‘We have different points of view’

Carlos Martinez has expanded on the reasons why he is no longer working with Daria Kasatkina

Darja Kasatkina of Russia in action during the WTA Agel Open 2022 women’s tennis tournament match against Emma Raducanu of Britain in Ostrava, Czech Republic, October 4, 2022 (CTK Photobank/Panoramic)

Robin Wolff

February 23, 2023

Daria Kasatkina has announced that she is now longer being coached by Carlos Martinez – telling the world in a vlog on her girlfriend Natalia Zabiiako’s YouTube channel.

The Russian and the Spaniard had been working together since June 2019 and decided to part ways for reasons that the 48-year-old coach explained in an interview with Ubitennis.

“There are some reasons [why we have stopped working together]. It is not about tennis but it is about other priorities that I have and I have some principles that I want to follow.

“We have a different points of view about things and it is better that we do it like this.”

Martinez made it clear that he doesn’t necessarily agree with the world No 8’s choices off the court.

Four titles together plus world No 8 ranking

“I am not saying what she was doing was wrong because she is a very good professional. But I feel that on some days she has to take care if she wants to be there. There is a lot of pressure, she has to work on very specific things and I think that she has to manage her time off the court a bit better.

“Our points of view are a bit different. I like to just focus on tennis and try to do my best. To invest more time to get better every day and that’s why I was thinking a bit differently. I respect Dasha because in the end, it’s her career and her decision. She is an adult and she has to make her decisions. It’s not a problem for me.”

The partnership had been very successful. It was with Martinez that Kasatkina won four of her six career titles, it was also with him that she reached her highest career ranking, eighth, and the semi-finals of a Grand Slam, Roland Garros in 2022.

Martinez: I loved working with Dasha

The coach had some positive words for his former player and put himself in her shoes by also talking about the reasons that he thinks pushed the Russian to separate from him.

“It was not a big surprise. I was very sad because I loved working with Dasha. She is a great girl and a great player. I think our connection on the court was really good but in the end, there were things about what she was doing, in my opinion, off the court. In my opinion, these were not the best for her career. That’s why she has decided to stop because our last conversation was the same way. Then I think she was a bit tired and not agreeing with my point of view of how she has to do things off the court.”

At the beginning of the season, the 23-year-old has had rather inconsistent results. She reached the final of the WTA 500 in Adelaide but has won only five of her 11 matches in 2023.