Over the past three years Daria Kasatkina has slowly come to terms with a painful truth: the country she was born in, grew up in and represented with great success in the most prominent women’s sport steadfastly rejects her existence.
Four months after Kasatkina came out as gay in 2022, the Russian government enacted a slew of laws aimed at cracking down on and criminalising homosexuality. Last year, Russia began to convict people charged with displaying pro-LGBTQ+ imagery. While travelling the world for her profession, already competing under a neutral flag in the grim shadow of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the 27-year-old spent much of her time ruminating over whether it was time for her to depart.
