Daria Saville’s true colours again shining through, in rankings resurgence and brave Ukraine support

As Saville has slashed her ranking from an injury-afflicted 627 in February to 129th via a successful treble of North American events, the native Muscovite has also been unwavering in her pro-Ukraine support; privately to fellow players and publicly via social media, while competing in outfits of defiant yellow and sky blue.

Yet a cause that has provided extra on-court motivation has also left Melbourne-based Saville — who in December married her long-time partner Luke, the South Australian doubles specialist — concerned for her parents and extended family back in Moscow, a city she can no longer visit for fear of government retribution.

“When the war started, I straight away messaged a few of my Ukrainian tennis friends and I was crying for days. I was like, I cannot believe this is happening, that Russia, that we — and I’m saying ‘we’ because I obviously can’t just deny that I’m Russian — would do this to our neighbours, our brothers,’’ Saville says.

“The best decision I ever made was to move to Australia, but I just think, ‘How can you be apolitical?’ So I decided, ‘OK, I’m gonna make everyone know where I stand’.

“It’s hard to have a voice now if you’re Russian, though. Even now, I don’t think I’ll be able to go back there. I could literally be in jail if I go back there because of my statements.

“I mean, I don’t think I’m that important, but that’s what’s happening if you go to protests. People are just being dragged away and put in jail, and you can’t write anything on social media. It’s terrible.

“The propaganda there, the fake news, it’s horrible.’’

Saville’s mum Natalia returned to Russia shortly before the war began, and Dasha, as she is universally known, admits she is worried for the parents she wishes could emigrate, and hopes they are not punished by association.

“For my family, there’s no more business there, there’s nothing. So I’m supporting them, yeah, and Luke is amazing, he’s supportive of that, as well,’‘ she says, cuddling the couple’s celebrity dog Tofu during an interview near the couple’s inner bayside home. “I want to somehow get them over here, but it’s not easy.’’

While questioning the UK Government’s plan to compel athletes from Russia and Belarus to sign written declarations that they do not support Vladimir Putin before being allowed to compete at sporting events including Wimbledon, Saville noticed — or at least thought she did — war-related player tensions during her recent return to the international circuit at events in Guadalajara, Indian Wells and Miami.

“I think the dynamic is a bit weird between the Russian athletes and the Ukrainian athletes. There’s always been a bit of banter between them, maybe a little bit like Australia and New Zealand, but if I was Ukrainian I would not be happy. I would be very angry.’’

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For Saville, tennis is again a happy subject. Having succumbed to five years of Achilles issues and opted for surgery 14 months ago after missing most of 2020, the former world No.20 made a successful comeback last November at the Billie Jean King Cup finals in Prague.

It was a short highlights reel, though, at least initially. Having had her pre-season disrupted by her Covid-postponed but thank-God-it’s-finally-happening wedding in December, three consecutive main draw defeats during the Australian circuit preceded a difficult trip to Canberra for a lower-level ITF event in February.

At the same Lyneham venue in 2018, Saville had what she calls “an absolute shocker’’ of a Fed Cup (as it was then called) tie against, yes, Ukraine. She lost to 15-year-old Marta Kostyuk and the unranked Nadiia Kichenok, only for Ash Barty, with doubles help from the retiring Casey Dellacqua, to save the day.

Returning to the national capital, the horror of that weekend haunted the Rio Olympian again. Nor did the pre-tax earnings of $500 for a second-round loss brighten her mood, given that it cost far more simply to get there and play. “I was like, ‘Oh, my God’, but I also thought, ‘Well, it can’t be worse than that, because the next tournaments are gonna be bigger’.’’

Still, it was only after a practice session back home in Melbourne with Tennis Australia coach and long-time mentor Nicole Pratt and Storm Sanders that Saville was persuaded to dust off her passport for just the second time since late 2020.

“I was not in the best headspace after a not-so-good Aussie Open and Australian summer. I didn’t think my level was good. I had thoughts of, ‘Why would I even go anywhere, like, what’s the point if I’m not even playing that well? I’m not ready, I need more time’.’’

Pratt and Sanders told her just to go. Stop feeling sorry for herself and toughen up, effectively. That the best thing for her was to trade what had become a comfortable extended existence at home with Tofu but without much stress or responsibility and return to her former “normality”. Life on tour.

After arriving in Mexico to work with coach Jay Gooding, Saville immediately felt happy, excited and ready. Beat US Open champion Emma Raducanu in a first-up marathon ended by the British starlet’s blisters, then took a set from Sloane Stephens despite tweaking her adductor in the third round.

Tick.

Achilles held up fine.

Tick.

Things had begun to turn. Just like that.

Next, after skipping Monterrey, the 28-year-old qualified at Indian Wells and upset three top-50 opponents, including ninth seed Ons Jabeur (her first top 10 scalp in four years) and the dogged Elise Mertens, before retiring injured against Maria Sakkari.

“My biggest goal was to rebuild my reputation of being a fighter and making girls not want to play me, like if they see me in the draw. And I’ve probably done that by winning the longest match of the year and playing another three sets.’’

So, how?

“I wish I could tell you but I think I stopped thinking of what’s ahead and what was behind, what my ranking was, and I just thought, ‘OK, well, I’m here now, let’s give it a shot’. So every day, I just tried my best. Every day, I would try to just find little wins in everything I do.

“Even practising with other girls, playing points, I was more disciplined and sometimes by being disciplined, they would make an error and I would take it as a win, even though I didn’t hit a winner. Sometimes we get too hard on ourselves; thinking that to celebrate something you need to do something amazing, so I was taking wins from nothing. Really worked hard on creating positivity.’’

Which also made up some of the ground lost during a pre-season distracted by wedding plans with Luke, her partner of 12 years and recent Davis Cup debutant. No regrets in that regard, though, despite pointing out that it took her slightly longer to record any significant postnuptial results than Ukrainian No.1 Elina Svitolina, who won an Olympic bronze on debut as Mrs Gael Monfils.

As Saville’s close friend Ellen Perez tweeted on March 15: Who is this Daria Saville and why is she better than Daria Gavrilova?

Dasha got a laugh out of that one, and admits she is still getting used to her new name. Likes it, though. And “game, set, match Saville” has a nice, well, ring to it, too.

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Those words were also on high rotation at the subsequent WTA 1000 event, where the resurgent Australian took advantage of an accommodating draw to become just the fourth wildcard ever to reach the Miami Open quarter-finals.

The other three: Justine Henin, Venus Williams and Victoria Azarenka.

’’I had this crazy run in Miami, I just had all the luck possible. That was the craziest draw I’ve ever had. That’s never gonna happen again,’’ says Saville, who was (re)gifted the Tennis Australia reciprocal wildcard after compatriot Astra Sharma was promoted directly into the main draw.

The world No.249 was eventually “smashed” (her word) by Swiss Belinda Bencic, but her first quarter-final since Rome in 2017 earned her a pre-tax cheque for $237,000 and further topped up a confidence tank depleted by two lost years.

There had been doubts. Questions. “Yeah. I think it was more that I want it now. Like, why is it so hard? My goal was to always get back to the level or better because I still think that I haven’t achieved my full potential. There’s still a lot of things that need to be improved.

“But I was definitely like, ‘If my Achilles is not feeling good, I’m done. If it’s not where it needs to be for me to be playing at 100 per cent I’m done’. So I kinda had these thoughts. And still every morning, I wake up thinking, ‘Oh, where is it at? Am I sore, am I not?’

“The Achilles injury is so annoying. Even today, I didn’t do much and I’m sore. Just from flying (home, at the weekend), it just reacts to everything. It’s still not 100 per cent. It’s never gonna be 100 per cent. But it at least lets me play to my full 100 per cent, if that makes sense.

“I was always determined and would never just give up. I hate losing. But the injury was letting me down so much I was getting, ‘Oh, I’m sore, poor me’, because I was that sore that I couldn’t put it aside. I couldn’t just fight through it.’’

Being healthy and back on the circuit has reminded Saville just how “simple” life is when tennis is all you need to think about. “Here, I have all different errands and different things to do all the time and there it’s tennis, hotel, tennis, hotel … and it’s boring, but I think that’s kind of what I need: just having no distractions, cos I get really distracted. Like, I’m terrible with timings. I definitely need help with things.’’

When at home, dachshund Tofu is her constant companion. On the day of our park bench chat, he is tired from spending the afternoon at his owner’s practice session at Melbourne Park and keen to join some of his canine pals nearby.

Saville says she is recognised occasionally in her local neighbourhood but more because of her high-profile pet. Their dasha_tofu TikTok page is edging towards one million followers. “They’re like, ‘Oh, is he the dog from Tik Tok?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah’. And then I’m thinking in my head, ‘I also play tennis!’’’

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Saville was as surprised as anyone by the abrupt retirement of Barty, her successor as Australia’s top-ranked woman.

Until she gave it a little more thought, that is.

“I didn’t think she was gonna play many tournaments but then when she did retire, I was like, ‘OK, well that makes sense, for her’. Not many players retire after having this run but then at the same time, I can see why she would.

“As she said, she’s achieved everything and she was never someone who loved travelling. She found it hard. She loves Australia, she loves her life outside of tennis and I respect that. I think she always made decisions no matter what everyone else thought. She always followed her heart.’’

One example that has remained with Saville was the year that Barty withdrew from a lucrative final tournament during the Asian swing, so did not just forgo a big slug of prizemoney but received a hefty fine as well.

“I remember she just didn’t care. I think she was tired or she was maybe a little bit injured, and the tennis season’s pretty long and she just wanted to get home.

“I was like, ‘Wow, who does that? Like, no one would do that’. Then I thought about it and I was like, ‘This is an investment because that means she’s coming back home earlier, she starts her pre-season a little bit earlier and she has enough time to rest, and I was like, ‘Think about it as an investment, not so much as, whoa, I’m getting fined’. So I always respected her for that.’’

As to whether Saville is now eyeing a return as Australian No.1: “Well, Ash just made it a little bit easier! I think so. I mean, right now is it Ajla (Tomljanovic)? I think it’s doable. I’m not gonna put time on it but that would be cool. Yeah, I’m excited. Now that Ash is not playing next Australian Open, I’m like, ‘Now I need to try and be the leader and be the leader at Billie Jean King Cup’. I absolutely love being a team player, so I can’t wait for that.’’

First, though, the clay season. Saville will start in Madrid in about three weeks, then Rome, before Roland Garros; the latter in qualifying at worst, or armed with the TA wildcard at best. Yet she stresses that she is not expecting unearned gifts; just hoping her results will continue to justify the support of the governing body.

Saville’s next goal is a return to the top 100, ideally in time to earn main draw entry at Wimbledon but certainly by the US Open. She is less equivocal about whether it’s possible to reprise her top 20 spot from 2017, due to a reluctance to aim too high and risk being disheartened.

For example, on this latest trip, she was aiming to almost halve her ranking to around 350th. “Now it’s 130 and it’s like, ‘Whoa, where did that come from?’ Right now, my next goal is 100, so when I get there I can think about my next goal, cos otherwise I will get into this habit of making goals that are hard and then not achieving them by a certain time and then getting down on myself.

“So I’d rather be making small wins rather than thinking of big wins straight away. It’s like if you make a goal of, ‘OK, I’m going on a diet and I’m only eating salads’; that never works, does it?’’

A small-target strategy, then, to stay positive and strive first for the more achievable. While, at the same time, wading into something far bigger as a vocal supporter of her former neighbours in besieged Ukraine, as a Russian-Australian showing her true colours while boldly, if symbolically, wearing some new ones at the same time.