I will miss you Damian

Much-loved member of the tennis community Damian Kust has passed away after a short illness. It is difficult to describe the pain I am currently feeling but I will do my best to highlight just why he meant so much to me, and to so many others, as the outpouring of tributes on social media has shown.

This is on the beach in Alicante during the Montemar Challenger in 2024. I think it shows just how fond I was of our precious time together

I have already sent out a few posts on social media, but this is an extended version, and one with even more anecdotes, that I hope you will enjoy, and maybe even get to know a little more about the legend that was - and always will be - Damian Kust. My friend.

I got to know Damian, like so many others, via Twitter, around six years ago.

Then, once I started Talking Tennis in 2022, thanks in no small part to Owen Lewis, the co-founder of the website Popcorn Tennis, I was immediately drawn to Damian, whose passion for tennis was so obviously apparent.

As he wrote in his first article for Popcorn: "There's just nothing else in the world that excites me more than a young talented prospect, a great underdog story, or a well-crafted point capped off with a perfect volley."

Damian's first appearance on Talking Tennis was within weeks of me starting the media outlet. We spoke about the players who came through qualifying to reach the main draw at the 2022 US Open. I asked him to "fill in the gaps" as most sections of the tennis audience - and media, including myself - were preoccupied with "Big 3s", and "Serenas" and "Swiateks," and I wanted our audience to be aware of those ranked further down the tennis pecking order. As always, Damian delivered.

Damian's first appearance on Talking Tennis

Within 30 seconds of him coming on the show - and we had never spoken before - Damian said he was "excited" to be on the show. I told him "not to be too excited." We both laughed at the same time, as we did so often over the coming years. Indeed all the way until his last appearance, more than three years later, when the topic of haircuts arose.

After that first appearance at the end of August 2022, Damian soon became a regular on the show - and revelled in talking about players who had become "Friends of the Show." This was a title we bestowed upon players we had had a brief encounter with, barely knowing us and almost certainly not remembering, but both Damian and I enjoyed the joke of us pretending they were honoured to be associated with the show.

In January of 2023, I invited Damian, and fellow journalist Mario Boccardi, to join me for a week at my apartment in Bonn. When Damian arrived on the Saturday evening, I remember him wearing a jumper with the British band "The Who" emblazoned across it.

I was surprised he was a fan of a band that formed some 35 years before he was born. He mentioned something about a link to his father and I realised I was going to get to know this guy quite a bit more over the coming seven days.

We did live watchalongs that would go on all night and into the next day, often 15 hours of non-stop broadcasting.

I now had the privilege of being able to call Damian my friend. During his stay we had some of our best conversations in the kitchen, where I recall one chat where I told him about the first match I ever watched live - the Wimbledon clash between Ivo Karlovic and Lleyton Hewitt in 2003. Damian liked this.

Ivo - or Doctor Ivo as he loved to call him - was an all-time favourite of his. Roger Federer was another favourite, but I don't think he earned the special place in Damian's heart that was reserved for the joint-tallest tennis player in history.

We barely had a waking hour that week that wasn't devoted to that Australian Open. But we did manage to squeeze in a pub quiz one night during his stay in western Germany, and his mind was as sharp on topics away from tennis, as it was on the sport he held dearly.

We continued to do hundreds of hours of tennis coverage together across 2023, where he would address people in the live chat on YouTube, such as Jake Davies, Nurlan, Jane and Ghostie, like they were friends. And they were.

In the August of 2023, it was Damian who shared the news with me of the passing of Jakub Bobro, who did some shows for Talking Tennis, and I had the pleasure of meeting in the summer of 2023 at Wimbledon.

Damian did a regular podcast with Jakub, and I got to know him thanks largely to Damian. It was Damian who joined me on Talking Tennis to share that devastating news as part of an emotional live broadcast and we have since awarded players the "Jakub Bobro Award" given to those who are not in the limelight, but have had a particular breakthrough, such as a deep run at a Slam or entering the top 100 for the first time.

I would have loved for us to cover some tournaments together in 2023. But while I was doing 250s and 500s, Damian said he wasn't interested as he didn’t want to do anything other than his beloved Challengers, covering the "unsung heroes" as highlighted in his bio on X.

In the spring of 2024, I finally managed to convince Damian to come to cover a main tour tournament together - but only because it was a 250 and he knew we would get good access to the players - a frustration we shared when "trying" to cover bigger events. That ATP 250 was the 2024 Estoril Open - my favourite across the tour, and he loved it too - as he enjoyed adding his incredible tennis nous to the questions he posed to players who had never before come across this type of questioning. And they appreciated it too.

In Portugal, we also played our first tennis match together. Damian won in straight sets and would go on to have a 3-0 head-to-head against me, much to my chagrin.

Upon victory, at the net exchange in Oeiras, he had a glint in his eye I will never forget. As much as it annoyed me that spring morning, it brings pain right now that I don't know will ever heal.

During that trip we had fond evenings, including a classic night that began with a YouTube video that was recorded while we walked along the beach. We laughed a lot.

I remember I hugged him in Estoril and told him how much he meant to me. He won't mind me saying he found emotions like this a little awkward - but I meant it and I'm glad I told him.

Damian was an early riser, as I realised spending several weeks in various Airbnbs across Europe over the next couple of years. He would be bouncing with enthusiasm shortly after sunrise and I remember his arms folded one morning looking at my as I arose from my slumber - he had his racquet, and was ready for our early morning match. I was not.

Damian's zest for life was clear for all to see in his writing, his commentary and his interviews. He was also passionate about snooker and darts - and there was something that I found particularly charming about his fondness for these traditional working class sports, a far cry from the tennis scene.

Damian had studied Hollywood monsters in graduate school. He was quirky, and I loved it!

We met later in 2024 as we covered the Challenger tournaments in Porto and Montemar.

Shortly after the Challenger in northern Portugal, Damian updated his profile picture on X, that showed him with a Talking Tennis microphone. Though I never told him, it meant the world to me.

At the latter tournament in Spain, I loved the beers we shared on the beach chatting for hours about tennis. We didn’t always agree - and we shared those disagreements with our audience. But boy it was fun!

We had so much fun chatting for hours on the beach during the Montemar Challenger, bin behind, camera blowing the camera over in front

I had the pleasure of sharing an apartment with him and covering Estoril once more in 2025 - as we regularly made the 5-kilometre walk to the event and back, talking all things tennis and so much more. After the final on the Sunday, we shared an Uber back to Lisbon, where we embraced as we parted company. Little did I know that this would be the last time I would meet him in person.

His last appearance on the show was at the beginning of October 2025, poignantly alongside Vansh Vermani, whom I know Damian never met, but had an equally close relationship. I know Damian's passing has hit Vansh hard and we have been in regular contact in recent weeks as Damian's health deteriorated.

Damian was as fit as a fiddle, as he would regularly be out jogging whenever we met up for tennis events. It makes the news of his passing even more shocking.

The outpouring of emotion on social media from journalists and fans, and the recognition from players and former players, including John Isner, Mark Petchey,Robbie Koenig, Rennae Stubbs, Sebastian Korda, Marin Cilic, Federico Coria, Laurent Lokoli and Kamil Majchrzak - who referenced Damian in the aftermath of his narrow win over Reilly Opelka in Brisbane - has been incredible. And yet at the same time, it also makes sense. I just wish Damian was here to see how much he was not just appreciated, but loved.

I was looking forward to knowing him more, and for many years and decades to come. I am devastated more than any words could express to know that will not now be possible.

I would like to express how grateful I am to Damian's parents, who would regularly contact me with updates throughout an unimaginable ordeal, including on the day of his passing, when they expressed how they wanted me to share the tragic news with the tennis community.

That community, for me, began with Damian.

I, and many others, will miss him greatly.

John