{"id":81652,"date":"2025-03-29T20:49:47","date_gmt":"2025-03-30T00:49:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=81652"},"modified":"2025-03-29T20:52:46","modified_gmt":"2025-03-30T00:52:46","slug":"daria-kasatkina-announces-switch-from-russia-to-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2025\/03\/29\/daria-kasatkina-announces-switch-from-russia-to-australia\/","title":{"rendered":"Daria Kasatkina Announces Switch From Russia to Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"\" data-start=\"110\" data-end=\"347\">Australian tennis has a new top-15 player in the WTA rankings: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wtatennis.com\/players\/322082\/daria-kasatkina\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Daria Kasatkina<\/a>, a 27-year-old Russian-born player, who announced on social media her decision to represent the country internationally after becoming a permanent resident.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"349\" data-end=\"693\">&#8220;Australia is a place I love, is incredibly welcoming and a place where I feel totally at home,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/kasatkina\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">reads the statement<\/span><\/a>. &#8220;I love being in Melbourne and look forward to making my home there. As part of this, I am proud to announce that I will be representing my new homeland, Australia, in my professional tennis career from this point onwards.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"695\" data-end=\"922\">&#8220;Obviously, there are parts of this decision that have not been easy,&#8221; Kasatkina added. &#8220;I want to express my thanks and gratitude to my family, coaches, and everyone who has supported me throughout my tennis journey so far.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"924\" data-end=\"1169\">&#8220;I will always have respect and deep appreciation for my roots, but I am thrilled to start this new chapter in my career and my life under the Australian flag,&#8221; Daria concluded. &#8220;Thank you all for your understanding and continued support.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DHwkFmIxDDO\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\" style=\" background:#FFF; 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font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:550; line-height:18px;\">View this post on Instagram<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 12.5% 0;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;\">\n<div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-left: 8px;\">\n<div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-left: auto;\">\n<div style=\" width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;\">\n<div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;\"><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DHwkFmIxDDO\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" style=\" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none;\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">A post shared by Daria Kasatkina\ud83d\udc2c (@kasatkina)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2 data-start=\"1171\" data-end=\"1208\">The reasons behind her decision<\/h2>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"1210\" data-end=\"1685\">It was certainly not an easy choice, but for Kasatkina, it felt necessary. Due to the restrictions placed on players from Russia and Belarus over the past three years\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2022\/03\/02\/tennis-russia-invasion-ukraine\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">since Russia invaded Ukraine<\/a>\u2014she had to compete as a neutral athlete. However, her situation has been different from that of many of her compatriots. She has not returned to her homeland for the past two and a half years, primarily because she openly criticized Vladimir Putin and the war he is supporting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"1687\" data-end=\"2006\">After Ukrainian player Elina Svitolina refused to shake her hand at the 2023 French Open, Kasatkina said: &#8220;The saddest part is that the war is still going on. So, of course, players from Ukraine have many reasons not to shake our hands. I accept it, and it is what it is. It\u2019s a very sad situation, and I understand.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"2008\" data-end=\"2332\">Additionally, she came out as a lesbian and travels the world with her girlfriend, sharing their life on tour through YouTube vlogs. That is a deal-breaker in Russia, where homosexuality is condemned. When asked whether two women would ever be allowed to walk down the street holding hands in Russia, she replied, &#8220;Never.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"\" data-start=\"2334\" data-end=\"2360\">Australia&#8217;s reaction<\/h3>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"2362\" data-end=\"2593\">Until today, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2018\/12\/31\/first-upset-of-the-year-australias-kimberly-birrell-shocks-daria-kasatkina-in-brisbane-opener\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Kimberly Birrell<\/a>, ranked No. 68 in the world, was the highest-ranked Aussie. However, besides having a top-15, Australia is happy to welcome Kasatkina for who she is, for what she stands for, and for the values she brings.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\" data-start=\"2595\" data-end=\"2789\">&#8220;Dasha Down Under. A warm welcome,&#8221; wrote the official Instagram account of the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/category\/australian-open\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Australian Open<\/a>, while the Federation&#8217;s comment on Kasatkina\u2019s post was: &#8220;Welcome to the Aussie tennis family.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>Main Photo Credit: Albert Cesare-USA TODAY Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Australian tennis has a new top-15 player in the WTA rankings: Daria Kasatkina, a 27-year-old Russian-born player, who announced on social media her decision to represent the country internationally after becoming a permanent resident. &#8220;Australia is a place I love, is incredibly welcoming and a place where I feel totally at home,&#8221; reads the statement. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5454,"featured_media":60306,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9,4],"tags":[1292,416,42736,6457,364],"class_list":["post-81652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-news","category-wta","tag-australian-tennis","tag-daria-kasatkina","tag-news","tag-tennis-news","tag-wta-tour"],"modified_by":"Yesh Ginsburg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5454"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81652"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81652\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81660,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81652\/revisions\/81660"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}