{"id":412423,"date":"2026-01-17T06:45:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T06:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/412423\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T06:45:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T06:45:09","slug":"daria-kasatkina-says-she-can-finally-breathe-as-australian-citizen-after-defecting-from-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/412423\/","title":{"rendered":"Daria Kasatkina says she \u2018can finally breathe\u2019 as Australian citizen after defecting from Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"

MELBOURNE, Australia \u2014 Daria Kasatkina<\/a> knows how to make an entrance.<\/p>\n

The day before the start of the Australian Open<\/a>, and about 30 minutes before the start of her pretournament news conference, Kasatkina took to social media to post a picture of herself in front of the Australian flag, holding her certificate of citizenship.<\/p>\n

\u201cOfficially an Australian,\u201d she wrote. \u201cHappy, grateful and free.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kasatkina, 27, defected from her native Russia in March in a decision she said was necessary to live a full life.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, being openly gay, if I want to be myself, I have to make this step, and I did it,\u201d she said in a news conference at the Charleston Open in April.<\/p>\n

Kasatkina has also openly criticized President Vladimir Putin of Russia and the country\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, describing the war as a \u201cfull-blown nightmare\u201d in a 2022 interview with Vitya Kravchenko in Barcelona, Spain, that was posted on YouTube.<\/p>\n

For Kasatkina, who is one of the most popular players in the proverbial locker room of the WTA Tour, this switch is about far more than paperwork or gaining additional funding and support for her career, which are often key motivators in tennis switches of nationality. In recent months, Anastasia Potapova (Austria), Kamilla Rakhimova and Polina Kudermetova (both Uzbekistan) have left Russia behind.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot even describe how much that means, because it\u2019s not just about the passport,\u201d Kasatkina said Saturday afternoon at Melbourne Park. \u201cIt\u2019s about the acceptance, let\u2019s say, because honestly, like, the whole process, the support from the people, like, from the other citizens, I mean, it\u2019s been amazing, honestly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t imagine that, you know, coming from the completely different background to receive this amount of support basically from strangers. I felt so much love.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said those feelings were a key motivator during a challenging 2025 in which she ended her season early and felt the pressure of criticism from her former nation and the impact of her decision weighing on her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got a lot of support, but also I got a lot of critics, you know, from the other part. It\u2019s been difficult, but this is kind of what I have been dealing for \u2026 For a couple of years,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, even if you deal with that, it\u2019s still a bit exhausting, you know, because it\u2019s something you cannot control, and it just keeps going and going. So when I can finally breathe and just not to think about it, and it\u2019s just \u2026 Yeah.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kasatkina, who has been ranked as high as No. 8 in the world and is a former French Open semifinalist, said she was at a loss for how to pay back her new country for what it gave to her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot wait for the moment when I can wear green and gold for the first time,\u201d she said. \u201cReally looking forward to this moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

She will get an opportunity something like that Monday, when she faces Nikola Bart\u016f\u0148kov\u00e1, yet another rising talent from Czechia with deceptive power and incredible finesse. It will be Kasatkina\u2019s first chance to play a match at a \u201chome Slam,\u201d something only players from Australia, France, the U.S. and Britain get to experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cA really special chapter in my life,\u201d she said. \u201cI will try to enjoy it as much as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MELBOURNE, Australia \u2014 Daria Kasatkina knows how to make an entrance. The day before the start of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[690,99,428],"class_list":{"0":"post-412423","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-culture","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}