Daria Kasatkina wants Australia to call her something else. \u201cI think \u2018Dasha\u2019 is better,\u201d says the former Russian. \u201cDaria is more like an official name which is written in my passport, so I prefer Dasha because it\u2019s just less \u2026 formal.\u201d<\/p>\n
There has been upheaval in the life of the 28-year-old, much of it in the past 12 months. She became engaged to her partner, Natalia Zabiiako, a former elite figure skater, better known as Natasha. \u201cIt works the same way, like, with my name,\u201d Kasatkina says.<\/p>\n
Kasatkina pulled out of three major tournaments at the end of last year\u2019s gruelling WTA Tour for the first time in her career, citing exhaustion. Though she made the round of 16 at Roland Garros on the clay she has traditionally preferred, as well as at Melbourne Park, her ranking slipped to its lowest in more than five years.<\/p>\n
One change, however, is a source of optimism. Here, the more relaxed, laid-back \u201cDasha\u201d makes sense. \u201cBecause I became an Australian,\u201d she says, \u201cit has to be a bit more chill.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kasatkina became a permanent Australian resident<\/a> in March, driven from Russia<\/a> largely by the criminalisation, censorship, and violence faced by the LGBTQ+ community. She now has citizenship, and her new passport was \u2013 as of Saturday \u2013 waiting for her at the post office. But she is still getting used to the peculiarities of Australian life.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone is so chill, like \u2018if you\u2019re late, you\u2019re late, mate\u2019. It\u2019s OK, take it easy, don\u2019t worry about it. \u2018You\u2019re therewhen you\u2019re there\u2019,\u201d Kasatkina says, looking bemused. \u201cIn my culture it was a little bit different.\u201d<\/p>\n Russian-born Daria Kasatkina on a rooftop in Melbourne after switching allegiances to Australia in March 2025. Photograph: Adam Ferguson\/The Guardian<\/p>\n She is fresh from her citizenship ceremony, speaking at the inner city offices of Adidas, her longtime sponsors whose local arm is quietly elated at having such a widely loved player land in their lap before this year\u2019s Australian Open<\/a>.<\/p>\n Kasatkina faces Nikola Bart\u016f\u0148kov\u00e1<\/a>, a fast-rising Czech teenager in the first round on Tuesday. In recent weeks, the former Russian has battled nerves of playing in front of home crowds<\/a> in Brisbane and Adelaide, but showed \u2013 in a victory over Greek veteran Maria Sakkari \u2013 signs that she is returning to form<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI felt this energy and I really liked it, so I\u2019m really looking forward to playing in a \u2018home slam\u2019 \u2013 I can\u2019t believe I\u2019m saying that,\u201d she says, shaking her head. \u201cI see how people just love sports here, how they support their local players, athletes and for me that\u2019s beautiful, this culture of sport since you\u2019re growing up as a kid.\u201d<\/p>\n She has previously described her on-court game as creative, using her brain and legs to outfox more powerful players. But she is not one to talk herself up. \u201cHonestly, you just go and play,\u201d she says. \u201cThere is not much I can say about my game, I just want people to come to my matches and enjoy.\u201d<\/p>\n Daria Kasatkina plays a backhand during practice before the 2026 Australian Open at Melbourne Park. Photograph: Graham Denholm\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Italian coach Flavio Cipolla and Zabiiako have been joined in Kasatkina\u2019s box by fitness coach Jona Segal, who has more than two decades of experience in AFL and tennis, in an addition made possible by the support of Tennis<\/a> Australia. Since changing allegiances, she has also been invited to join the WhatsApp group that Australia\u2019s top women\u2019s players use to communicate, and provide emotional support.<\/p>\n Kasatkina was initially confused by the invitation, wondering what there would be to discuss. \u201cBut then I realised that the girls, whoever won, they just said like \u2018good job girl, keep going\u2019. And I\u2019m like \u2018oh OK, so that\u2019s how it works\u2019,\u201d she says. \u201cI wasn\u2019t used to it as well, but I think this is nice, it\u2019s this team spirit here, so you\u2019re supporting each other, you\u2019re happy. Like \u2026 you\u2019re not jealous of the success of the other player.\u201d<\/p>\n The regular YouTube videos Kasatkina and Zabiiako post about life on the tour provide insight into the dynamics between eastern European players. Kasatkina is close with Maria Timofeeva and Kamilla Rakhimova, former Russians who now play under the flag of Uzbekistan.<\/p>\n But the new Australian is also tight with those who retain ties to Russia, such as veteran Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who has condemned the invasion of Ukraine, and 18-year-old Mirra Andreeva, already a top 10 player and the country\u2019s best prospect, who has been lauded by Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n Daria Kasatkina reached a career-high ranking of world No 8 before a whirlwind period led to her switching allegiance from Russia to Australia. Photograph: Adam Ferguson\/The Guardian<\/p>\n \u201cI have to actually find friends on tour because I\u2019m the person who needs to talk, to share a little bit, and to have conversations with people,\u201d Kasatkina says. \u201cOf course there are some girls who have different opinions, so we are not engaging with them too much, but most of the girls are nice and funny, and they\u2019ve got a lot of things to share.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me that\u2019s amazing, because in the end we are like a circus travelling around the world, and we have to deal with each other every single day, we are with each other in locker rooms and the player restaurants and the lounges and the gyms and the tennis court. So, I mean, we have to get along with each other, and I\u2019m fine with most of the girls.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite feeling compelled to cut ties with Russia, Kasatkina speaks with fondness about some aspects of her homeland, where she still has family. \u201cPeople with \u2018Russian mentality\u2019 are super responsible, it\u2019s like, you can really rely on this person, \u2018this person will do the job\u2019 \u2013 this is one of the good parts,\u201d she says. \u201cThen, you know, Russians can be a bit grumpy, like with this \u2018stone face\u2019 and stuff. But honestly there are many good Russians in the world, and unfortunately now it doesn\u2019t look like that but, I mean, it is. Honestly, it is.\u201d<\/p>\n Kasatkina reached a career-high ranking of No 8 not long after making a grand slam semi-final, at the French Open in 2022. In that whirlwind year, she was critical of the Ukraine invasion and announced she was gay. Although she said in 2023 coming out was a pressure release<\/a>, the relentless tour finally caught up with her in 2025<\/a>. \u201cI hit a wall\u201d, she said in October when she ended her season early, citing mental and emotional exhaustion.<\/p>\n For the first three weeks of downtime, Kasatkina struggled. But her energy slowly returned, and studying for Australia\u2019s citizenship test offered an outlet, a symbol of a fresh start. She aced it when she arrived in Australia in December. \u201cTwenty questions, multiple choice, it was quite doable. But I was still very excited when I got 100%,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s like on a tennis court: you prepare, you train and then you\u2019re showed the result and you\u2019re happy, so you get rewarded.\u201d<\/p>\n Kasatkina has developed a fondness for wombats, after meeting one during an Australian Open promotion, and she is familiar with koalas and kangaroos. But when shown an image of a platypus, known simply as \u201cduck-nose\u201d in Russian, she is stumped. \u201cPlat-y-kus?,\u201d she laughs.<\/p>\n Kasatkina is starting to embrace her Australian-ness in other ways, even if she has no plans to move here just yet. \u201cI feel so comfortable, honestly. This is a place to live, a place to raise your kids,\u201d she says, expressing gratitude to those who have assisted in her expedited citizenship process.<\/p>\n But for now, home will be the merry-go-round of hotel rooms, alongside Zabiiako. \u201cJust to have the person you love next to you, it\u2019s very important,\u201d Kasatkina says. \u201cIt gives you the feeling of home actually, which most of the tennis players kind of miss during the year.\u201d<\/p>\n And whatever happens on court at Melbourne Park in coming days, Kasatkina looks forward to returning. \u201cI mean, honestly, it\u2019s a beautiful country. I can talk about it for long,\u201d she says. \u201cThe people who were born here, they\u2019re just \u2026 I hope they realise how lucky they are.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Daria Kasatkina wants Australia to call her something else. \u201cI think \u2018Dasha\u2019 is better,\u201d says the former Russian.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":420134,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":["post-420133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420133\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/420134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}