Daria Kasatkina’s welcome party finally arrived at 25 minutes to midnight when the Aussies cheered, smiled and waved for their new recruit, who had just given her all in her first home grand-slam match.
Kasatkina had waited all day for this. In fact, she had waited months, years even. In 2022, the Russian-born tennis player announced that she is gay and also publicly criticised Vladimir Putin and the Russian government over the nation’s invasion of Ukraine, a decision which came at a significant personal cost.
It meant she could no longer call Russia home; it was no longer safe to live in Tolyatti, the town 500 miles from Moscow where her parents, Sergey and Tatiana, had raised her. The years that followed included crippling anxiety and breakdowns, to such an extent that she thought about retiring. But, as of a week ago, Kasatkina is now an Aussie, citizenship ’n all. “Finally I can just breathe,” was how she described it.
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And so it was heartwarming to watch and listen to the Melbourne crowd support the 28-year-old until the very last moment of her first-round match against the 19-year-old Czech qualifier Nikola Bartunkova. Kasatkina has said she likes to be called Dasha rather than Daria — “it’s just less formal” — but it seems her new supporters have gone with Dash.
“Come on Dash!” “Let’s go Dash!” “Love you Dash!” they chanted, and then waited to take selfies afterwards. The result didn’t go her way — Bartunkova won 7-6 (9-7), 0-6, 6-3 — but it was that interaction, Australia’s tennis community welcoming their new star, which felt like the real win here.
“Yeah [I felt the love], honestly, and I enjoyed it,” said the world No43, who last year got engaged to Natalia Zabiiako, a former competitive figure skater who won silver at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in 2018.
“Happy, grateful and free,” Kasatkina wrote on Instagram as she announced her Australian citizenship last week
DARIA KASATKINA/INSTAGRAM
“I didn’t feel more nervous than I usually feel. I was excited. You know, the support actually helped me. Unfortunately, now I have to wait for another year to experience this again. Obviously I had higher hopes but, yeah, sport is like that.
“I have been [here] for a bit less than a year [Kasatkina was granted permanent residency in March 2025 and announced that she would represent Australia at all tennis events] and I’m honestly very impressed. Coming from, let’s say, a different background, the difference is just … we can’t compare.
“The development of tennis in Australia is just unmatched. Honestly, it’s so cool. I’m super happy and proud to be a part of this community right now.”
And the verdict on “Dash”? “I need an Aussie nickname, so we need to come up with some Aussie nicknames,” Kasatkina, the former world No8, said. “There’s one Dash already: Dash Saville [the world No198, another Russian-born Australian]. Yeah, we need to work on it because I need a new one, for sure. For Aussies. Even shorter than it is [already].”
In the first set, the nerves from player and crowd alike were palpable. It was like watching a puppy with its new owner, neither quite sure how to make the other feel at home. Kasatkina struggled with her serve — six double faults and no aces tell the story — and her ball-striking was tentative.
But at a set down, things became freer. With the crowd’s record player stuck on “Aussie, Aussie Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi,” Kasatkina turned on the aggression, was brave on her second serve and began dictating things. Six games in a row for the new Australian and we were all square.
Kasatkina won the second set to love against Bartunkova but failed to capitalise on that momentum in the decider
ROBERT PRANGE/GETTY
From there, things fell apart a little, with Kasatkina suffering with cramp. “It’s stress, waiting around basically for, I don’t know, about 12 hours,” she said, referencing the fact that of the 128 matches played in the first round, hers was the last to start. When it did, it was on a different court to the one she had been preparing for all day.
As the match came to its conclusion, Kasatkina was out of the Australian Open. But the Aussies hung around to ask for selfies and say their goodbyes for now. Luckily for them, Kasatkina is just getting started.