Follow us on Google Discover Some big changes have been made on the WTA Tour this year with players changing their allegiances.
Perhaps the most high-profile of those is Daria Kasatkina, who changed nationality to Australia earlier this year.
The stress of this change appears to have taken its toll on Kasatkina, who has since ended her season early.
Now, another WTA champion has done a similar thing to Kasatkina and switched to a different nationality.
Photo by Robert Prange/Getty Images
That player is Maria Timofeeva, the WTA player who has a career-high ranking of world number 93.
Timofeeva is currently the world number 146, but the 21-year-old has already achieved some big things in her young career.
This includes winning her first WTA title in Budapest in 2023, doing so as a lucky loser, as well as a breakthrough run at the Australian Open last year when she reached the fourth round.
Timofeeva has also just won an ITF title in Portugal, which is the last tournament she has played representing her country of birth, Russia.
However, she will now be representing Uzbekistan, with Timofeeva revealing the switch in an Instagram post.
Timofeeva wrote, “Hello everyone! I’m honored to officially announce that I have just received my Uzbek citizenship and starting from today I’m gonna be proudly representing Uzbekistan!
“I’m beyond excited for this new chapter of my life, and can’t wait to play my first official match tomorrow as an Uzbek player. Thanks to everyone for your enormous support!”
Timofeeva is now the Uzbek number one, but she has some way to go if she wants to match Iroda Tulyaganova, who is the highest ranked player in the nation’s history after reaching a career-high of world number 16 in 2002.
The first tournament that Timofeeva will play under the Uzbekistan flag will be at the WTA 125 tournament in Rovereto, Italy.
Players who have switched nationalities in recent years
Timofeeva and Kasatkina are not the only two players who have switched nationalities in recent years, with it seemingly happening more frequently.
There is a familiar trend with these changes, as all the notable switches have seen players change from representing Russia.
This has seen players from both the ATP and WTA Tours transition to countries including Australia, France, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Uzbekistan.
PlayerCountry they were representingCountry they switched nationality toDaria KasatkinaRussiaAustralia (2025)Varvara GrachevaRussiaFrance (2023)Elina AvanesyanRussiaArmenia (2024)Alexander ShevchenkoRussiaKazakhstan (2024)Maria TimofeevaRussiaUzbekistan (2025)Ksenia EfremovaRussiaFrance (2023)
These changes have seen varying degrees of success, with now Armenian Elina Avanesyan recently admitting a personal struggle she was facing.
With more players making this switch, it will be interesting to see if many other players follow suit.