Tennis star who left Russia for Australia makes perfect four-word comment after switch

Daria Kasatkina has spoken out on her decision to start representing Australia, opening up on how the 'open-minded' nature of the country helped her make the bold choice. The tennis star was born in Russia but changed to become an Aussie on April 1 after being granted permanent residency in the country just a few days prior. Kasatkina is set to represent her new nation for the first time when she takes to the court in Charleston, South Carolina later this week.

The world No. 12 has publicly criticised Russia for their invasion of Ukraine previously, though it is her relationship with figure skater Natalia Zabiiako which has prompted Kasatkina not to return to her homeland for several years. Russia has classified members of the LGBT community as 'extremists' following a supreme court ruling in 2023, and Kasatkina has therefore decided to switch her allegiances - and she opened up on the decision by embracing her new Aussie representation.

In stereotypical fashion, she quipped 'what's going on, mates?' at her recent press conference. Kasatkina went on to speak about how the tennis rankings have been updated to show that she now represents Australia rather than Russia.

She explained: "Honestly, it feels different. I'm not going to lie. It's emotional for me. So I have to get used to it. But yeah, I'm really happy to start this new chapter of my life and represent Australia on the big stage. Honestly with everything that's going on in my previous country, I didn't have much choice. Because for me, being openly gay, if I want to be myself, I had to make this step. And I did it, in the end.

"Australia is the place where I feel that I can be myself, and I really am really happy to have this privilege to be part of this beautiful country. I think it's obvious to say that Australia is a very welcoming country, very open-minded.

"I mean, everyone is welcome there. And as I said, Tennis Australia, they also made this step forward to me. We, together, worked through this process and stuff. And of course, without their support and initiative, I don't think this would be possible. So I'm really thankful to them. And yeah, everything happened pretty fast, and I'm just really happy about it."