Daria's Story
Daria Saville (nee Gavrilova) took up tennis at age six in her birthplace of Moscow, Russia. Sixteen years later she made her Olympic debut in Rio for her adopted country of Australia.
Daria, a former ITF world No.1 junior, came up against one of the most dominant tennis players ever, Serena Williams, in the first round where she lost 2-0. She paired up with Aussie Sam Stosur in the women’s doubles where they lost in the first round to Switzerland.
She won the US Open juniors in 2010 and a 2010 Youth Olympic gold medal for Russia.
She made the move to Australia in 2013 and first played for Australia at the Hopman Cup in early 2015.
Daria, who is married to Australian tennis player Luke Saville, began to climb up the world rankings in 2017. She paired up with Nick Kyrgios to reach the semi-finals of the Hopman Cup and in August she won the Connecticut Open, her first WTA title.
But within a year her career was interrupted by the first of a series of injuries that have kept her off the court in recent years. She was sidelined for 12 months with plantar fasciitis and Achilles tendonitis.
Fit again in 2022, Daria enjoyed a resurgent season, with her singles ranking rising into the top 50. She reached the fourth round at Indian Wells, fought her way to the quarter-finals at the Miami Open and played in her first WTA final in five years – going down in the decider of the Championats Banque Nationale in Granby, Quebec to Russia’s Daria Kasatkina.
But again, injury intervened. Daria tore her ACL in a match against Japan’s Naomi Osaka in Tokyo and underwent knee surgery that kept her away from the tour for close to 10 months.
She returned to action in late 2023 and the spirited competitor made an impressive start to the 2024 season, tallying tallied 13 wins from her first 22 matches, including four victories against top-50 opponents.
After starting the year ranked 209, she fought her way back into the top 100 and became the world no.1 Australian women’s singles player for the first time in more than six years.
It was an achievement that fulfilled a major 2024 goal for Daria. “I really want to come back inside the top 20. That was my best ranking,” she said in January. “I think one of my other goals for this year is to become the no.1 Aussie.”
In April, Daria played a key role as Australian nailed down a place in the 12-nation Billy Jean King Cup Finals in November with a clinical demolition of Mexico in Brisbane. After an injury to Storm Hunter, Daria stepped up to dispatch Marcela Zacarias 6-1 6-0.
Daria and Ellen Perez then teamed up to win the final doubles rubber, notching a 6-3 6-1 win over Jessica Hinojosa Gomez and Maria Fernando Navarro.
