Daria Kasatkina will soon be a married woman after announcing her engagement to girlfriend Natalia Zabiiako.
Kasatkina found it challenging to speak about her sexuality for many years due to attitudes about it in her native Russia. For that reason, she hid being a lesbian until deciding to be open about it by coming out in 2022.
In the same interview, the former French Open semifinalist revealed that she was dating figure skater Zabiiako. A few weeks later, she talked about being heartened by the largely supportive response from players and most fans.
Kasatkina and Zabiiako have gained much attention due to the former's YouTube channel, which mainly contains vlogs about the life of a tennis player. Zabiiako is in most videos, and several players have made appearances.
The exciting engagement announcement was made on Kasatkina's Instagram. It included a picture of both of their hands, with one of them wearing an engagement ring. The post is accompanied by the text "And just like that."
It is terrific that the WTA star feels comfortable being herself after years of hiding being a lesbian. She has previously admitted that being open about her sexuality means visiting Russia again would be risky.
In March 2025, Kasatkina announced that she had switched allegiances from Russia to Australia after being granted permanent residency in the country. She represents Australia at all events and can play at the Billie Jean King Cup.
Concerns for her safety if she went back to Russia as a lesbian were not the only reason for Kasatkina switching to Russia. The 28-year-old has been a vocal critic of Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, launching a war that remains ongoing.
All Ukrainian players have refused to shake hands with Russian or Belarusian players (the Belarusian government supports Russia's actions in Ukraine), and Elina Svitolina, Marta Kostyuk, and Dayana Yastremska have called for players from those countries to be banned.
However, Kostyuk shook Kasatkina's hand before their 2025 Italian Open match despite her being born in Russia. In a statement, the Ukrainian No. 2 outlined how much she respected Kasatkina for condemning Russia's actions and switching allegiances from the country.
There has been other relationship-related news in recent months. Naomi Osaka unexpectedly announced in January that she had split with rapper Cordae, her long-term boyfriend and father to their child.
Rumors circulated that Jannik Sinner began a relationship with a model while he was suspended from the sport for three months, but the Italian clarified at his first tournament back in Rome that the speculation was false.
Sinner dated WTA player Anna Kalinskaya last year, and she was in the ATP world No. 1's box for his US Open final triumph against Taylor Fritz. The pair has since split, although it is uncertain when that happened and who initiated the breakup.
Some players prefer to keep their relationships more private than Kasatkina and Zabiiako. Coco Gauff has had a boyfriend since 2023, but his face has not yet been revealed to her millions of fans.
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