Russia’s best tennis player takes on Putin and makes himself a target How social media is putting a strain on skiers’ lives

The death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a prison camp last Friday caused international consternation. While politicians and celebrities in the Western world expressed their displeasure and criticized Vladimir Putin, many prominent Russian voices remained silent. Among the few exceptions were former Soviet world chess champion Garry Kasparov, who has long been one of Putin’s loudest critics, and Daria Kasatkina.

The Russian tennis player expressed her support for Navalny’s widow Yulia Navalnaya on her social media, making her one of the most prominent Russian voices opposing Putin.

Parenthood dreams sold

Daria, called Dasha, Kasatkina is the best tennis player in Russia. The 26-year-old is currently ranked number 13 in the world and has already won six WTA titles in her career. She was born in 1997 in Tolyatti, about 500 miles southeast of Moscow. Once a booming industry with the Lada car factory, the city was plunged into crisis by gang crime and drug problems after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Kasatkina came to tennis through her older brother. When she was twelve years old, her parents sold their house in Tolyatti to support their daughter’s tennis career. “It was difficult to realize that your parents were giving up their dreams to make yours possible,” the Russian said afterwards.

Dasha’s dreams come true. She has been a professional tennis player since 2013 and as of 2021 she has not fallen out of the top 30 of the world rankings and is often in the top ten of the WTA rankings. She is one of the best tennis players in the world and is therefore very famous in Russia, where the sport is very popular.

Criticism of the war and coming out

Kasatkina uses this platform to draw attention to issues that concern her. In the summer of 2022, she discussed, among other things, the war in Ukraine in an interview with Russian YouTuber Witjia Kravchenko. She described this as a ‘real nightmare’ and explained that she wanted nothing more than for the fighting to stop immediately. “I want to be able to play against opponents who don’t have to worry about their tennis courts and their houses being bombed.”

As if such statements didn’t make her enough of a target in her home country, the Russian woman also came out as homosexual in the same conversation. She made her relationship with Russian-Estonian figure skater Natalya Sabijako public. “For young people who face problems in public, it is very important that athletes or other famous personalities talk about it,” was Kasatkina’s explanation for this step.

The young tennis player no longer wanted to hide. She described the years in which she did this as the most difficult time of her life. My career suffered: “I wanted to quit, had no energy left and couldn’t get out of bed.” It was only when she sought psychological help that Kasatkina realized what she had to do: “Being at peace with yourself is the most important thing in life. Ruin everything else.”

Impossible to return home and be careful with flights

This is also the motivation behind their public support for Ukraine. The Russian explained that she wanted to be able to look at herself in the mirror without shame. She feels great compassion for the Ukrainian players on the tour, as their homeland continues to be destroyed: “I know how important it is to have a home. A place where it doesn’t matter that you play crappy tennis or just broke up with your boyfriend or girlfriend.”

Ironically, her statements have now left Kasatkina effectively homeless. As a publicly lesbian woman and war critic, returning to Russia is out of the question. When she is not traveling from tournament to tournament, the 26-year-old and her partner are now at home in Barcelona and Dubai. A Russian politician even wanted to give her official ‘foreign agent’ status, which would have meant that Dasha would have been officially prosecuted by the government. Her agent John Morris believes the tennis player is safe outside Russia. Nevertheless, the team is careful not to book flights that come too close to Russian airspace.

Kasatkina was also clear about what this move meant: “Of course I had to expect consequences. But I don’t regret my statements one percent. I couldn’t keep quiet and pretend everything was fine.” She was most worried about her parents, who did not want to leave Russia due to their old age and lack of language skills and still wanted to live there. “But they are doing well and they are proud of me,” said the world number 13. And: “If this means sacrificing my home to be a good person, then that is my decision.”

Angry and Ukrainian thanks

The Russian woman experiences the negative consequences of the war partly through no fault of her own, especially when she meets Ukrainian women. Actually, she no longer participates in tournaments as a Russian. After the invasion of Ukraine, the WTA Tour decided that players from Russia and Belarus could only continue to play under a neutral flag. Before the start of the current season, Kasatkina jokingly said: “I could ask the WTA if I can play under the rainbow flag.”

Nevertheless, after the match, the Ukrainians refused to shake hands with their Russian opponents to send a signal. Kasatkina showed understanding: “Of course the players from Ukraine have many reasons not to shake hands with us. I accept that and it is what it is. It’s a very sad situation.” Nevertheless, after the round of 16 defeat to Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina at last year’s French Open, she was booed by the crowd in Paris when she left without a handshake.

“I leave Paris with a bitter feeling,” she wrote after this incident. She was booed for respecting her opponent’s decision. Kasatkina urged the audience: “Be better, love each other. Don’t spread hate. Try to make the world a better place.”

A few weeks later, the Russian heard in Eastbourne that things could be done differently. At the grass tournament in southern England she was stopped by a Ukrainian fan. There was no confrontation, but rather a thank you, a request for a photo and at the end a long hug between Kasatkina and the fan.

In general, the tennis player repeatedly emphasizes how many positive responses she has received since the summer of 2022 – to her statements about Russia, but also to her coming out. The 26-year-old is no longer afraid to express her opinion. Together with her partner, she produces weekly videos on YouTube in which she gives viewers a look behind the scenes of the tennis circus with its sunny and shady sides. Kasatkina loudly criticizes the WTA and ATP tours for scheduling matches at certain tournaments, which sometimes leaves players in action at three in the morning. She questions the fact that ATP star Alexander Zverev is still being marketed by the world governing body even though he is on trial in Germany on domestic violence charges.

And Daria Kasatkina will continue to use her platform to draw attention to the horrors of the war in Ukraine and the grievances in Russia: “I will never say that sports and politics should be separated, we all know that they are very mixed. And I hope that one day members of the LGBTQ community can live without fear in Russia.”