Kasatkina Could Be Allowed to Compete in BJK Cup with Australia

Adrien Guyot

le 29/03/2025 à 10h18

1 min to read

Kasatkina

This Friday evening, Daria Kasatkina announced that she is changing her sporting nationality with immediate effect. Indeed, the Russian-born player confirmed that she will now represent Australia via a post on her social media.

At 27 years old, the world No. 12 takes this opportunity to become the new No. 1 in her country’s WTA rankings, surpassing Kimberly Birrell (68th), Maya Joint (80th), and Ajla Tomljanovic (88th).

However, one consequence of this change is that Kasatkina may never be able to represent her new home country, as she herself referred to it on social media, in the Billie Jean King Cup.

Indeed, as The First Serve points out, ITF (International Tennis Federation) regulations prohibit players from competing in the same team event for two different countries.

Kasatkina, who has already represented Russia multiple times in the BJK Cup, might not be able to wear her new colors in this competition. However, the source notes that exceptions are possible, and Daria Kasatkina’s situation could be reviewed in the coming weeks.

As a reminder, Russia (the nation Kasatkina represented from the start of her career until this year’s Miami tournament) and Belarus remain excluded from ITF-organized international competitions (Davis Cup and BJK Cup) since early 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

From April 10 to 12, the top-tier nations will compete in three-team qualifying groups. On this occasion, Australia will host Kazakhstan and Colombia and attempt to secure a spot in the Final 8, which will take place later this year in Shenzhen.