‘I didn’t have much choice’ – ‘Emotional’ tennis star forced to switch nationalities after coming out as gay

A RUSSIAN-BORN tennis star revealed she “didn't have much choice” but to switch nationalities after coming out as gay.

Daria Kasatkina was born in the city of Tolyatti and played under the Russian flag throughout her career.

However, after revealing her sexuality and publicly criticising the country's LGBTQ+ laws and the illegal war on Ukraine, the world No12 has not been back to her home nation for two-and-a-half years.

The tennis ace has been living in Dubai and Spain throughout that period but successfully applied for permanent residency in Australia.

That was accepted last week – and gave her the green light to change nationalities officially for the WTA.

Kasatkina, 27, admitted Monday was an “emotional” day as the rankings were updated and her name now shows next to the Australian flag.

The 2022 French Open semi-finalist, who also reached the Wimbledon quarters in 2018, said: “It's my first official day as an Australian player.

“Honestly, it feels different, I'm not going to lie.

“It's emotional for me. I have to get used to it.

“But I'm really happy to start this new chapter of my life representing Australia on the big stage.”

Kasatkina took to social media in 2022 to reveal her relationship with figure skater Natalia Zabiiako.

Her open hostility towards the Kremlin's attack on Ukraine also led to one Russian politician unsuccessfully calling for the player to be listed as a “foreign agent” – someone acting against Russian interests.

Despite knowing there would be backlash in Russia, she bravely stated: “Living in the closet is impossible. It is too hard, it is pointless.

“Living in peace with yourself is the only thing that matters, and f*** everyone else.”

Kasatkina realised she could not even be seen holding her partner's hand in public in Russia and is following in the footsteps of Daria Saville, nee Gavrilova, who switched nationalities to Australia 2015, six years before marrying fellow tennis player Luke Saville.

And she has even received some helpful tips and plenty of encouragement from Saville, who wrote “new neighbour” on Instagram.

Kasatkina – who brilliantly referred to the journalists in her press conference as “mates” in a typical Aussie move – added: “With everything going on in my previous country, I didn't have much choice [to switch allegiance].

“For me, being openly gay, if I want to be myself, I have to make this step, and I did it.

“I have to get used to it a little bit because, for a couple of years, I didn't hear anything. But it's something nice to get used to.

“Daria is non-stop... she keeps sending me some stuff like the apartments and the houses around her location.

Tennis stars’ new careers

PLENTY of tennis stars have stayed involved in the sport since retiring.

But others pursued very different careers. Here are some of the best...

• I reached French Open and Wimbledon finals as a teenager but I quit to become a nun
• I won Wimbledon mixed doubles with my sister but got fed up with English weather so now run luxury B&B
• I was tipped for stardom aged 12 but retrained to become high-flying lawyer
• I earned £9m and won French Open before setting up bistro with Brazilian model girlfriend
• I’m last Frenchman to win Roland Garros, now I’m singer with six albums hitting No1 in charts
• I'm former world No1 but quit aged 29 – instead I went on to play professional poker and golf
• I was destined for the top but swapped lobs for labs as award-winning Harvard physicist

“I love being in Melbourne and look forward to making my home there.

“Coming to Australia every year, seeing how much support the players from Australia get there — I never experienced something like that in my life.

“It's going to be emotional, for sure, but I think I'm going to enjoy it.”

She also took to Instagram with a post on her story where she said she felt “incredible touched” by the support for what was a “far from easy decision”.

Like all Russian and Belarusian players, such as Grand Slam champions Aryna Sabalenka and Daniil Medvedev, Kasatkina has been playing with no flag as punishment for the invasion of Ukraine.

However, her maiden tournament representing Australia is this week's Charleston Open in South Carolina, hoping to add to her eight career titles – the first of which came at Charleston in 2017.

Natela Dzalamidze and Alexander Shevchenko both switched away from being classed as Russian – to Georgian and Kazakhstani respectively – in recent years.

Moscow-born former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, meanwhile, made the change to Kazakhstan in 2018 for financial reasons.