“Every cheer felt like a betrayal,” Kasatkina confessed, her voice strained. “Playing under this flag for convenience, I heard my grandparents’ voices. They see not a patriot, but a traitor enjoying sunshine while our real team suffers in silence.

“Every cheer felt like a betrayal,” Kasatkina confessed, her voice strained. “Playing under this flag for convenience, I heard my grandparents’ voices. They see not a patriot, but a traitor enjoying sunshine while our real team suffers in silence.

 

Daria Kasatkina has experienced home support as an Australian player for the first time in her career.

Kasatkina, who is a former world number eight, switched nationalities from Russia to Australia in March last year.

Despite the positive reaction she received after making this switch, it was a very challenging year for Kasatkina, who fell to her lowest ranking in four years and ended her season early after admitting she was at ‘breaking point’.

Kasatkina has now returned to the WTA Tour in Brisbane, where she was introduced as an Australian player in front of an Australian crowd for the first time.

Daria Kasatkina admitted she nearly cried on court following Australian crowd support

Kasatkina is not the only player who switched nationality in 2025, with her first opponent of the year Anastasia Potapova playing her first match under her new Austrian flag.

Despite having the home support of the Brisbane crowd, Kasatkina was beaten by Potapova, 7-5 4-6 6-4.

When reflecting on her first experience of playing with a home Australian crowd, Kasatkina appeared to be happy with the support she received, despite losing the match.

“Honestly felt, I mean, felt great,” Kasatkina said in her post-match press conference. “The court was full, and, I mean, yeah, the atmosphere was great. Yes, I couldn’t deliver the result I wanted, but, I mean, overall I think the match was pretty good and entertaining.

“Of course it’s obviously not the way I wanted to start the season, but, I mean, it is what it is. In tennis there is no draw. There is one winner, one loser. Yeah, just I will get ready for next week.”

Being further questioned on how she felt about playing as an Australian in Australia for the first time, Kasatkina revealed that she was emotional and nearly cried.

“Well, honestly it was super emotional,” said Kasatkina. “I mean, it was tough, but at the same time, you know, I was super nervous but also super excited to go. So there was this little mix of everything. I mean, the crowd was great, and honestly, I felt like all the support.

“Yeah. I’ve got two more tournaments in Australia, so yeah. I tried my best today, but just, you know, wasn’t enough. Also got a tough opponent. She was playing I think really good today. I mean, just not meant to be this week.”

Kasatkina added, “Yeah, honestly when I was, you know, stepping on court with all the cheer and everything, I almost start crying (smiling), but I was able to hold it. Honestly, yeah, I wanted, you know, to win so much and feel this also extra energy by the end of the match, but unfortunately didn’t happen.

“I mean, I have been through a tough year, so, I mean, now I’m fine, but still, you know, I have to get out of the deep hole right now. It’s never easy. I mean, I have been through these sort of challenges before in my career a couple of times. It’s a tough task, but you have to do it. You know, you do it or not, you have to do it.

“So, yeah. Obviously I feel better than the end of the — like not just the end. Almost the whole season of last year. Yeah, just have to keep this mindset and, you know, just play week after week and, you know, give my best and the result will come.”

Daria Kasatkina explains what was going wrong with her serve in Brisbane International exit

One of the big issues for Kasatkina in her first round loss to Potapova was her serve, having hit 16 double faults.

When asked about why she thinks this was causing her so many problems, Kasatkina claimed that it was purely a mental issue and nothing technical.

“Well, you know, serve has been always my kind of challenge,” responded Kasatkina. “It’s tough because it’s basically the beginning of the point, and if you’re struggling with this, it makes your game a bit, you know, a nightmare sometimes.

“But, you know, so I’m definitely, I have been working for long, long time. The problem is obviously not the motion itself. It’s always mental.

“But, I mean, there are things that I’m working on. I think even though I did 16 double faults, they were not, you know, as double faults I did like last year and sometimes when, you know, you’re just hitting beginning of the net, I mean, those double faults were not too bad.

“I mean, when you’ve got some, like, shot in your game which you’re struggling with, it’s tough. You know, some people, they’ve got serves, some people got forehand, backhand. It is what it is. They say one shot you get from God. All other shots you have to work on.

“Yeah, serve does definitely not come from God for me, but, I mean, this is something I have been working on a lot since a long time, and unfortunately it’s not coming fast and smooth. So, I mean, I will keep working on it.

“Obviously even if from the side it doesn’t look like that, I feel the changes, which is the most important thing. Yeah, I mean, it’s… There is something to work on, and yeah, I will just keep doing that.”

Kasatkina will have another opportunity before the Australian Open to put her serve to the test, as she has also entered the Adelaide International next week.

However, after falling to world number 37, Kasatkina is currently only able to get into the qualifying draw in Adelaide, but could still receive a wildcard as the Australian number two.