Daria Kasatkina has spoken for the first time since announcing her switch to represent Australia on social media, revealing it feels "emotional" and "different".
The 27-year-old confirmed that the Australian Government had accepted her application for permanent residency, which has allowed her to decide to represent Australia.
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Born in Russia and having represented the European nation for her whole career up until the past few days, Kasatkina has not stepped foot in her home country since 2022 due to differing views on sexuality and the ongoing war in Ukraine.
She caught up with tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg ahead of this week's Charleston Open in South Carolina.
"Today, the rankings updated, and it's my first official day as an Australian player. Honestly, it feels different," Kasatkina admitted.
"I'm not going to lie; it's emotional for me, so I have to get used to it.
"I'm really happy to start this new chapter of my life and represent Australia on the big stage."
Three years ago, the former world No.8 came out as gay with Estonian-Russian figure skater Natalia Zabiiako, which pushed her away from Russia to start a new life in a country where she would be accepted for who she is.
"Honestly, with everything that's going on in my previous country, I didn't have much choice," she said. "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. I really am happy to have this privilege to be part of this beautiful country."
Entering Charleston as the fifth-seed, Kasatkina awaits her opponent in the round of 32 as she earns a bye, but said her first match with the Australian flag next to her name "is going to be special".
"Coming to Australia every year, seeing how much support the players from Australia get there—honestly, I never experienced something like that in my life. I'm not used to it, so it's also going to be interesting to me to see how I'm going to feel coming back to Australia and play as a new Aussie," she explained. "It's going to be emotional, for sure, but I think I'm going to enjoy it. [I'm] really looking forward to it. First step is Charleston; still a long way to go before the next year, but yeah, I'm really happy and excited.
"I've gotten so many messages from my now-teammates and also the representatives of Tennis Australia. I've gotten a lot of support, nice messages. I cannot wait to meet with all of them in person and talk and go through the process and just go through what happens."
In the recent WTA rankings update, Kasatkina dropped two places to No.14.
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