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By Giri Nathan
[vc_empty_space height="15px"]Flashback to 2018, Indian Wells. Two 20-year-old women swept away the rest of the field to meet in the final. One of them won that match easily, gave the greatest acceptance speech in the history of competitive contests, and went on to four majors and historic riches. The other one is Daria Kasatkina. Given their ages and the sheer talent radiating from both players at the time, it would’ve been hard to imagine their trajectories diverging so sharply. But the full span of a career is hard to project, which means every teen prodigy, every Coco Gauff and Carlos Alcaraz Garfia, should come with tempered expectations. Motivations falter. Opponents catch on. And some downswings just stay down. Naomi Osaka kept winning and Daria Kasatkina forgot how.