Daria Kasatkina and Natalia Zabiiako kick off new season of tournament vlogs

They're back! The second season of Daria Kasatkina and Natalia Zabiiako's popular behind-the-scenes joint vlog kicked off this week at the Brisbanke International.

Kasatkina was seeded No. 5 at the WTA 500 event and beat Marta Kostyuk and Magda Linette before losing to Aryna Sabalenka in the quarterfinals. But before then, she and Zabiiako took fans around the Queensland Tennis Centre for the first edition of the tournament since 2020.

Guest starring in the 52-minute episode were Elena Rybakina, the tournament's eventual champion, as well as Anna Kalinskaya, Daria Saville and Martina Trevisan.

The power couple chronicled their 24-hour journey to Australia, Kasatkina's longtime friendship with Saville and their history as doubles partners, and interviewed Trevisan about her "too short" preseason, among other topics.

One particularly candid exchange in Russian reveals Kasatkina seeking motivation to go on court with Saville for their first-round doubles match.

"How did we even decide to play doubles? Why? Why do we need this at all?" Kasatkina queries, revealing the two were reuniting for the first time in years as a doubles pair.

"Because the first tournament of the year, I knew that you would want to play matches," Saville replies.

After Kasatkina says she'd prefer to enjoy her New Year's, Saville offers a sage piece of wisdom: "The most important thing is to return inside of the court and that's it, and everything will be fine."

(They won the match against Monica Niculescu and Lidziya Marozava in straight sets, and eventually reached the semifinals.)

After Kasatkina confessed she was happy with the level she showed in the season's first week, calling it "not a bad start" to 2024, the pair ultimately signed off asking for fans' input as far as what they'd like to see this year—as the second season of their vlog series will visit many of the same locales as the smash-hit first season.

"Put in the comments what new you'd want to see from the tournaments, what you'd like to discover," Kasatkina prompts. "Interviews, that's obvious, but maybe something else. Give us some ideas ... and we will try to do it."