Daria Kasatkina on accepting Australian citizenship
Former World No. 8 Daria Kasatkina, who was a part of the Fed Cup-winning Russian team in 2021, said in an interview with The Guardian that as an openly gay woman, she was left with no choice but to move away from her home country and accept citizenship in Australia if she wished to “live a free, open life.”
Russia criminalised homosexuality and began cracking down on pro-LGBTQ+ groups in 2022, only a few months after Kasatkina came out as gay. Travelling all over the world as a professional tennis player, the 27-year-old who is currently the World No. 14 said she had been considering having to take permanent residency in a different country for a long time.
“Honestly, it was one of my main reasons why I had to make this step and change my nationality because if I wanted to live a free, open life as I wanted, unfortunately I couldn’t do it in Russia. I had to find another place. And I did,” Kasatkina said.
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It was emotional and I was nervous, of course, because I didn’t know how the reaction was going to be,” she added. “But the feedback was very good, honestly, from all the international media. It was great. Also, the feedback from Australia was good. After I realised that, I became much more calm.”
Kasatkina asserted that her sexuality was the main reason for her decision, but Russia’s ongoing war with Ukraine was also impossible to ignore. “The war affected many things,” she says. “Also the political way of Russia. Before, it was not that bad. But after this trigger, it’s become much worse. So it’s all connected,” she said.
On potentially sending a message to the world, the 27-year-old sayd: “I think everyone has their own views, their own path. It is my life, and it was my decision on my life. It didn’t affect anybody except for me. So the only example which I want to give to people, it’s to take responsibility and action for your own life. And if you want to change something, you have to change something. If you feel great where you are, you have stay where you are. You just have to be responsible for your actions and for your own life. That’s all.”
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