Daria Kasatkina is currently the best WTA player from her country but she's not appreciated equally by all in her native country.
The Russian has been largely successful in 2022 winning a trophy and securing a spot at the WTA Finals. She's the best-ranked Russian player but not all are fans of her in her native country. She's outspoken about her views as she confirmed earlier this year in an interview that she is gay. She also spoke about the war in Ukraine openly and a Russian member of the State Duma, Roman Teryushkov is speaking out against her.
He said:
"Using your fame as a tool to influence others on issues of politics or ideology, you need to be prepared not only to receive preferences from the customer, but also to measures of responsibility from the state. Kasatkina, (Karen) Khachanov, (Yevgeny) Kafelnikov openly criticize the actions of the Russian authorities, permanently residing outside the territory of the Russian Federation, acting in a neutral status [without the Russian flag and anthem], demonstrating to the whole world distancing themselves from the NWO and Russian society. Their actions fall under the law on foreign agents."
It's a designation that subjects individuals to severe restrictions. It's a law that was expanded on recently making it even more severe.
Teryushkov continued:
"Kasatkina, I have submitted an appeal to the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation to include her in the list of foreign agents. The department responded with a formal reply, expressing disinterest in stopping the illegal actions of the tennis player. In turn, I re-sent a deputy request to check the legality of such a response and take appropriate measures."
It's not the first time he spoke out against her as he criticized her earlier when she got a medal in the country.
She responded to all of it by writing:
"How nice to have fans from the State Duma."