Daria Kasatkina was upset that a women's tennis match on the main court at the Australian Open was not televised by local broadcasters in favor of a men's match.
Kasatkina took to social media on Tuesday to air her grievance that Elena Rybakina's clash against former World No. 1 Karolina Pliskova could not fit on Australian TV's broadcast schedule in spite of being allocated a primetime slot on Rod Laver Arena.
Rybakina's match against Pliskova was one of the marquee matchups of the first round of this year's Australian Open. It was the first women's match to be allocated the 7 pm slot for the evening session at this year's tournament.
The Kazakh won the battle of the heavyweights in straight sets, but the perfunctory scoreline only told half of the story. Rybakina rallied from a breakdown in the first sets and overcame a 2-5 deficit, in the tiebreak including saving three set points to win 7-6, 6-4.
The third seed played simultaneously as the men's match on an adjacent court, the Margaret Court Arena, where Germany's Alexander Zverev was facing compatriot Dominik Koepfer in the first round.
According to Kasatkina, who shared her dismay on X (formerly Twitter), the WTA blockbuster was not telecasted by the broadcasters in Australia who preferred to air the men's match.
"No women’s tennis shown on TV. They are playing on Rod Laver, prime time and for what don’t wanna say who they actually showing now."
From the tweet, Kasatkina received plenty of reactions. One fan claimed that the men's match was much more appealing, to which the Russian took a sly dig at Zverev in her reply.
Kasatkina appears to have been up to speed with ongoing court cases in which ATP star Zverev has been accused by her ex-girlfriend Brenda Patea of physical assault. The German star is expected to appear in court in May 2024 for a trial.
"If you’re a female, then I would advise you to make a research about the guy you wanna watch and think again."
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