Daria Kasatkina has opened up on her first day as an Australian tennis player, and why she “had to make” the switch to represent another country.
The Russian-born world No.12 is playing her first tournament as an Aussie in Charleston, South Carolina this week after announcing she had been granted permanent residency a few days ago.
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Kasatkina is openly gay, having been in a public relationship with figure skater Natalia Zabiiako for several years, and has criticised the Russian government for its invasion of Ukraine.
While both elements have contributed to her not returning home for several years, it was her sexuality that forced the change, according to Kasatkina. Russia has persecuted LGBT people for decades and a supreme court ruling in 2023 classified them as extremists.
After quipping “what’s going on, mates?” as she began her press conference, she explained in quotes relayed by Ben Rothenberg’s Bounces Substack: “Today, the rankings updated, and it’s my first official day as an Australian player. And honestly, it feels… different.
“I’m not going to lie. It’s emotional for me. So I have to get used to it. But yeah, I’m really happy to start this new chapter of my life and represent Australia on the big stage.”
Kasatkina explained Australia’s tolerance made her incredibly proud to represent her new nation.
“Honestly with everything that’s going on in my previous country, I didn’t have much choice,” Kasatkina said.
“Because for me, being openly gay, if I want to be myself, I had to make this step. And I did it, in the end.
“Australia is the place where I feel that I can be myself, and I really am really happy to have this privilege to be part of this beautiful country.”
There were rumblings inside tennis the 2022 French Open semi-finalist, who has been ranked as high as No.8 in the world, could instead defect to Spain but she was approached by Tennis Australia about the move “a couple of months ago”.
“I think it’s obvious to say that Australia is a very welcoming country, very open-minded,” Kasatkina said.
“I mean, everyone is welcome there. And as I said, Tennis Australia, they also made this step forward to me. We, together, worked through this process and stuff. And of course, without their support and initiative, I don’t think this would be possible. So I’m really thankful to them. And yeah, everything happened pretty fast, and I’m just really happy about it.”
Since the announcement Kasatkina has been speaking closely with fellow ex-Russian and long-time friend Daria Saville, who moved to represent Australia in 2013.
“Dash is talking non-stop,” she said.
“Since I announced, she’s non-stop. On the phone, she called me, then she keeps sending me some stuff like the apartments and the houses around her location (in Melbourne). She’s so excited; I’m scared. Yeah, she is super happy for me.”
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