Anastasia Potapova announced her decision to represent Austria in her professional tennis career on December 4, through a post on Instagram. The announcement sparked immediate discussion among tennis fans, who quickly noticed something striking about the message she used to share the news with her followers – its similarity with Daria Kasatkina’s own message.
Her public statement soon became a point of conversation across social media platforms, with observers drawing unexpected parallels to another recent nationality change in professional tennis.
Daria Kasatkina Reacts to Anastasia Potapova’s Instagram Announcement
Potapova shared her excitement on social media about her new chapter competing under the Austrian flag. However, eagle-eyed fans soon began comparing the exact wording of her message to an announcement made by fellow Russian-born player Kasatkina back in March 2025.
When compared side by side, Potapova’s announcement used nearly identical wording from Kasatkina’s post, with only the country names swapped from Australia to Austria. The resemblance was so striking that fans on social media were quick to point out the near-identical phrasing throughout both messages. One user noted the simplicity of the changes made, writing that Potapova had essentially only erased two letters from the country name.
The discovery spread rapidly across X, with multiple tennis fans discussing whether the two players might share representation or had simply recycled similar messaging for their announcements.
When Kasatkina saw the tweets drawing attention to the similarity between the two posts, she chose to respond. She reposted the fan’s tweet calling out the comparison, accompanying it with a single skull emoji to express her reaction to the discovery.
Kasatkina then replied to her own repost with a follow-up comment that provided clarity about her thoughts on the situation. She wrote: “And no, we are not from same agency😂” using a laughing emoji to add humor to her response.
Her comment appeared to be a lighthearted way of dismissing any speculation that the two players shared the same representation or agent who might have crafted similar messaging for their announcements.
Reason Behind Kasatkina and Potapova’s Nationality Switches
Potapova’s decision to represent Austria is part of a broader trend affecting Russian tennis players over recent years. Since Russian and Belarusian players were banned from competing under their national flags in 2022 following the invasion of Ukraine, many athletes have sought ways to continue their professional careers by changing their sporting nationality.
MORE: Anastasia Potapova’s Russia to Austria Switch Comes Almost 2 Years After Her Ex-Husband’s Move
For Potapova specifically, her move to Austria comes nearly two years after her ex-husband, Alexander Shevchenko, changed his sporting nationality. Shevchenko switched from Russia to Kazakhstan in January 2024. The couple married in December 2023 but announced their separation in late 2024, just over a year after their wedding.
Kasatkina switched to representing Australia in March 2025 after receiving permanent residency approval. The 28-year-old has been an outspoken critic of Russia’s military actions in Ukraine and has publicly discussed leaving Russia due to safety concerns related to her identity as a gay person.
She has not returned to Russia since February 2022 and has been living in Dubai for the past several years before making her permanent residency announcement. Once Potapova’s transition to representing Austria is officially finalized, the 24-year-old will become the top-ranked female player for the nation and will begin competing under the Austrian flag starting in the 2026 season.
