Daria Kasatkina
In 2022 Russia’s top tennis player came out – just as her country was tightening its laws against queer people.
Daria Kasatkina grew up in the industrial city of Tolyatti on the Volga; her parents were nationally ranked athletes. She started playing tennis at six, and her family sold their home to pay for her training. In 2014 she won the girls’ title at the French Open. As a professional she won her first WTA title at 19 and in 2022 reached the semi-finals of the French Open and the top ten of the world rankings.
On 18 July 2022, in a YouTube interview, she said that she was in a relationship with a woman, and posted a photo with her partner, the Olympic figure skater Natalia Zabiiako. At the time she was the highest-ranked Russian player – and the most prominent Russian athlete ever to come out. Russia was just preparing to extend its law against so-called “gay propaganda” to adults.
“Living in the closet is impossible. It’s too hard, it’s pointless,” she said. She feared she would never be able to hold her girlfriend’s hand in Russia, and she called the war against Ukraine a “complete nightmare”. She said she had been encouraged by the footballer Nadya Karpova, who had come out shortly before.
Kasatkina has lived outside Russia for years. In 2025 she switched nationality to Australia and became the Australian number one. With Zabiiako, whom she married, she runs a popular video blog about life on the tennis tour.