Daria Gavrilova opened up to Behind the Racquet, talking about her first tennis lessons, injury woes that have kept her off the court, and about the importance of friendship on the competitive WTA tour. The interview inspired me to share some childhood photos of the Russian-born Australian, along with excerpts from her story.
The 26-year-old Gavrilova was born in Moscow and introduced to tennis at the age of six by her parents Alexey and Natalia. In her most recent interview, the former Top 20 player, now ranked No.246 due to a long period of inactivity, described her first encounter with tennis:
I still remember my first ever lesson, I was wearing a boy’s outfit because we couldn’t find anything else that looked like a tennis outfit.