"I have been accepted for the person I am": Daria Kasatkina feels safe and at home as a new Australian

Daria Kasatkina surprised the tennis world in terms of the country she plumped for in defecting from Russia last year after long being estranged from the nation of her birth as she became an Australian.

Going down a similar route to her good friend Arina Rodionova albeit she did so by getting married, Kasatkina has now made Australia her home and is ready for her first ever tilt at playing in the nation at the Brisbane International next week.

She will have Brisbane and also later down the line Melbourne in which Kasatkina goes from loving the country from afar and visiting it once a year to becoming one of their leading lights and a reason for Aussie fans to tune in and watch.

"I am playing for the 11th time in Australia but this time it is super special," she said as per AAP. "I feel a bit nervous coming into the tournament with a different status but in general I am super excited.

"I already feel the love and support. So far, it is the most important decision in my life. I would choose it 100 times out of 100 times.

"It has been a really rough year, accepting everything and processing everything and going through difficult times, but I am just really happy being here."

Kasatkina in defecting also finds herself not only feeling better on the surface but also down to the fact that she can be who she is without prejudice.

Openly out as gay, this caused issues when it came to returning home adding also to her support for Ukrainian players when it comes to the war in Russia and Kasatkina said now she feels a lot more safer to be the woman she is without fear in Australia.

"Australia has a lot of advantages. I can't name all of them. There are too many," she continued.

"The main things are that I have been accepted for the person I am. I can feel safe here. This is the most important because unfortunately not everywhere in the world right now you can feel like that. Australia is one of the places where I feel people come together and the philosophy of mateship is the best."

She also has gone through a tough time in regards to burnout having a mental health break in the middle of the year and is only just returning from it now. Kasatkina who vlogs her life on the tour is well known for playing most events and being cheerful and happy with her fiance Natalia but that can't always be the case as she admits.

"That was a super necessary decision but for us tennis players it is very difficult to accept that you need a break," she said. "We have tournament after tournament and we have to defend the points from the previous season which is an additional anxiety.

"I just felt that if I pushed for longer I would have got in a deeper hole. I am proud of the decision. I took six weeks off but the first three weeks was a disaster."

"It was really difficult. I just wasn't enjoying it. I found myself being super unhappy and in a really dark place.

"After the six weeks I feel like I am finally recharged. I needed to do this to understand there are certain limits you can push through and then you have to give yourself space to stay a sane person. For me it worked pretty well. The second part of my break I felt like I was enjoying my break and ... I found out how to deal with my free time."