Vitalia Diatchenko (32), a native of Sochi, plays at both tournaments with a 60 000 USD Prize Money from the EMPIRE Indoor Tennis Tour 2022 series. She also chose the events because her favorite surface is hard. "I'm coming to Slovakia for the first time, I haven't been here yet," admitted the tennis player, who has worked her way up to the 71st place in singles, the highest in the WTA rankings. She did it on November 17, 2014. And she wants to get closer to this position again, which could be helped by WTA points from the current tournaments in TC EMPIRE Trnava.
Diatchenko did not hesitate to come to Trnava and is very much looking forward to the 60K tournaments which are part of the EMPIRE Indoor Tennis Tour 2022 series. "I already had both events planned for a long time. It was also because I really like to play on the indoor hard surface," she said to the website www.empire-indoor-tennis-tour.com. It is interesting that she has never played in Slovakia before. "I will be in Slovakia for the first time. So I need tips for tasty restaurants around," said the native of Sochi with a smile, who knows all the Slovak players, but does not maintain close contact with them.
One of the most memorable moments in her career came in the 2018 season. In the first round of Wimbledon, she unexpectedly defeated the former world number one and then the 22nd player in the world in that time, Maria Sharapova. Then she advanced to the 3rd round when she defeated American Sofia Kenin, but then she lost to the Latvian Jelena Ostapenko. So far, it is her best result at grand slam tournaments. "I love playing on grass. Wimbledon is one of my favorite tournaments. I had the best result there that season, so I have only the best memories," Diatchenko admitted.
She also won three WTA challengers in singles, twice in Taiwan in 2014 and 2019 and most recently in the 2021 season in Angers, France. "Each of these titles means something different to me. But Angers was really different because I dedicated the singles title to my mom," she recalled.
Diatchenko is coached by 49-year-old Irish coach Garry Cahill. "He is my coach, but we don't travel together to all the tournaments. We usually go to the bigger ones together. It's also because he lives in Dublin and I live in Moscow. We will agree on the training sessions depending on what surface awaits me in the season and what time of year it is."
The native of Sochi was already in the top 100 of the WTA rankings and is not far from it even now. In September 2022, she was on 123rd place. "I am not satisfied with the season yet. I will only be there when I reach the goal - the first hundred of the WTA ranking and to get my highest ranking. Then I will be happy."
Rome, Paris, Melbourne, London. These are the cities which Diatchenko likes the most. Her hobby is reading, listening to music and she also watches other sports such as tennis. “I also love fashion, but I don't have that much free time for it.” Fans may notice that she is very active on social media, especially on her official Instagram account. "I don't think I'm that active. But it's true that I like modeling. But since it takes a lot of time, it cannot be combined with the career of a professional tennis player," she added with a smile.
