Daria Kasatkina will hear a resounding chant of “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi!” next time she plays in front of Australian fans.
According to Kasatkina, Tennis Australia approached her agent – John Morris of 72SportsGroup – with the idea of the Russian changing to Australian nationality, and soon after the process began.
Her application for permanent residency was swiftly approved by the Australian government within “a couple of months”, under the global talent visa for extremely talented athletes…with an internationally recognised record of exceptional and outstanding achievements.
She has chosen to settle in the city of Melbourne, home of Tennis Australia and the Australian Open.
The other Russian-turned-Australian Daria – née Gavrilova, now Saville – welcomed Kasatkina on Instagram with a white heart emoji as her “new neighbour”. Saville has lived in Melbourne since 2013.
Both Kasatkina and Saville have outspokenly shared the belief that the country of their births should stop the war in Ukraine. This conviction is another reason for Kasatkina’s decision to emigrate.
Interestingly, in February, Kasatkina’s name appeared in the draw ceremony for the Abu Dhabi Open followed by the letters ESP, indicating she was Spanish. Rumours swirled that she had defected to Spain. The organisers were forced to apologise for their “entirely administrative mistake”.
Currently ranked 12, with a highest ranking of 8, Kasatkina’s arrival as a new Australian player is handy. The proud tennis country has struggled in the women’s arena since Ash Barty retired in early 2022 while still ranked No. 1 in the world.
Due to a mixture of injuries and form, the top ranked Australian women after Kasatkina are Kim Birrell at No. 62; Maya Joint, 81; Ajla Tomljanović, 87; Olivia Gadecki, 100; and Daria Saville, 108.
In comparison, there are three Australian male players in the ATP top 40, with Alex De Minaur ranked No. 10.
Kasatkina has won eight singles WTA titles so far in her career. Barty with 15 (including three majors) and Samantha Stosur with nine (including one major) are the only Australian players to win more titles during the 2000s.
From 2000 onwards, several other female players have switched their national allegiance to Australia:
Jelena Dokic – (after originally representing Australia) from Serbia and Montenegro (to Australia again)
Jarmila Wolfe, previously Groth (née Gajdošová) – from Slovakia
Sacha Jones – from New Zealand
Anastasia Rodionova – from Russia
Arina Rodionova – from Russia
Daria Saville (née Gavrilova) – from Russia
Ajla Tomljanović – from Croatia
Maya Joint – from USA (as a junior)
After the announcement of Kasatkina’s immigration, Tomljanović, who started playing for Australia over 10 years ago, told ABC News, “I’m thrilled – she’s an amazing person, an amazing player…I think she fits everything Aussie…”
Kasatkina will play her first match for Australia this week at the WTA 500 in Charleston. Her new compatriot Tomljanović has already led the way by winning in the first round.
While the WTA is content for her to represent Australia with a permanent residency visa rather than the more formal citizenship which may follow, the ITF has its own rules. As a non-citizen without a passport, Kasatkina would have to apply for an exemption to play under the Australian banner at the four ITF-governed grand slams.
A separate exemption would be required for her to play Billie Jean King Cup or the Olympics.
Such assessments by the ITF would be based on their view of how genuine the request for an exemption was, based on a number of criteria set out in the rule for non-citizens.
For now, as Kasatkina told the media in Charleston, she is grateful and relieved to be a resident of “a very open-minded” country where “everyone is welcome” and she can live openly with her partner of three years Natalia Zabiiako.
She added, “…of course, without [Tennis Australia’s] support and initiative, I don’t think this would be possible…everything happened pretty fast, and I’m just really happy about it.”
Title photo of Daria Kasatkina at the 2025 Brisbane International by David Kapernick / Tennis Australia