Hours after successfully completing her first match in Madrid, Daria Kasatkina, the highest-ranked women’s player from Russia, stood in the corridors of La Caja Mágica as she described how she was managing the mental fatigue that had built after years of being a hamster in the ever-revolving wheel of professional tennis.
A more topical question followed: she was asked how big tournaments lengthening by a week has affected those feelings. “It affects the payment of the hamster,” she said, laughing. “Poor hamster has to work more for the same money. Poor hamster.”
