Australia has named its team for the Billie Jean King Cup play-off against France, on indoor clay at Le Portel on 21 and 22 November, and Daria Kasatkina is not in it. She has played under the Australian flag since March 2025 and became an Australian citizen in January 2026. Before that she played for Russia, including in the Billie Jean King Cup, and from 2022 without a flag. Her case shows how a change of country works in tennis: one set of rules decides the flag on the tour, and separate, stricter rules decide who can play the team events and the Olympics.
On the Tour: The Passport Decides
The 2026 WTA Rulebook sets out a nationality rule. A player’s WTA nationality is the issuing country of the valid passport she provides with her annual player form. In exceptional circumstances the WTA can accept other proof of nationality, citizenship, domicile or residence. A player with no passport is listed under her country of birth, and failing that at the WTA’s discretion.
To switch during a season, a player submits a valid passport, or in exceptional circumstances other proof, from the new country. The rulebook then limits further moves: she “may not request a subsequent change in nationality for the remainder of the current Tour Year except in exceptional circumstances, as the WTA determines.”
The ATP’s published rulebook has no equivalent nationality section. On both tours the flag is settled between the tours and the ITF. When Natela Dzalamidze switched from Russia to Georgia before Wimbledon in 2022, an All England Club spokesperson said a player’s nationality, “defined as the flag they play under at professional events, is an agreed process” that is “governed by the Tours and the ITF.”
Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup: A Higher Bar
Team competitions belong to the ITF, which now presents itself as World Tennis, and its regulations ask more than a passport. The rules below are from the most recent Billie Jean King Cup Regulations available, the 2024 edition. The Davis Cup regulations use the same wording.
- No earlier team. A player must “not have represented any other Nation in previous editions” of the competition (junior events excepted) or at the Olympic tennis event. Being nominated for a tie at the time of the draw counts as representing.
- Time with the passport. A player qualifies through citizenship with a valid passport held for at least two years (24 months) of the past five. Where there is a genuine reason for having no passport, five consecutive years (60 months) of residence can qualify a player who was born in the country, has a parent or grandparent born there, or holds permanent residence or humanitarian protection there.
- Exemptions. A national association can ask the ITF’s Internal Adjudication Panel to waive either test, at least three months before the tie, by showing “a sufficient, genuine connection and commitment to life and tennis in the nation.” There is no fixed waiting period and no cap on switches; the panel decides case by case.
- Two eligible nations. A player eligible for more than one nation needs an application three months ahead. The other nation has 15 days to comment, the ITF decides, and either side can appeal to the panel within 14 days.
- The last word. The ITF keeps “the absolute right to refuse a Nation’s nomination of any Player.”
For how the competitions themselves run, see our explainers on how the Davis Cup works, how the Billie Jean King Cup works and the United Cup.
The Olympics: Three Years, Unless Waived
The Olympic Charter requires every competitor to be a national of the country whose Olympic committee enters them. A competitor who has already represented one country must wait three years after last doing so before representing a new one at the Games. The IOC Executive Board can shorten or cancel that wait if the national Olympic committees and the international federation concerned agree.
Tennis adds its own layer. Under the ITF’s eligibility rule for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, a player must meet the Charter, be eligible under the Davis Cup or Billie Jean King Cup regulations, and have been nominated for her or his nation’s team at least twice during the Olympic cycle, with at least one nomination in 2027 or 2028. A panel can make exceptions for reasons such as injury.
Russian and Belarusian Players
Since 1 March 2022, under a joint statement by the sport’s governing bodies, players from Russia and Belarus have competed on the tours without their country’s name or flag. The ITF suspended both national federations and withdrew their Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup teams. At the annual general meeting in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on 13 October 2026, the member nations voted to keep both federations suspended. Neutral players can still change nationality like anyone else, which is how several have ended up under a new flag. For the Belarusian side of the debate, see Aryna Sabalenka on the Belarus flag.
Recent Switches
- Elena Rybakina: Russia to Kazakhstan in 2018, when Kazakhstan offered her funding. She won Wimbledon for Kazakhstan in 2022.
- Natela Dzalamidze: Russia to Georgia in June 2022, before Wimbledon.
- Daria Kasatkina: neutral to Australia in March 2025, after being granted permanent residency. She became an Australian citizen in January 2026.
- Anastasia Potapova: to Austria from the 2026 season, announced in December 2025. She had played Billie Jean King Cup for Russia in 2018 and 2019.
- Kamilla Rakhimova: now competes for Uzbekistan, from late 2025.
What It Means in Practice
A new flag on the scoreboard does not make a player eligible for her new country’s team. Kasatkina had played Billie Jean King Cup for Russia, so she needs an ITF exemption before she can play the competition for Australia. In June 2025 she said: “It’s something which Tennis Australia has to deal with the ITF.” No exemption had been confirmed by World Tennis or Tennis Australia by late October 2026, when Australia named its team for Le Portel without her. The same question will follow Potapova, who also played the team event for Russia.
The rules covered here are the WTA Rulebook dated 27 July 2026, the 2024 Billie Jean King Cup Regulations and the ITF’s Los Angeles 2028 eligibility rule. Team-event regulations are revised most seasons, so check the current edition before relying on a specific deadline. For this year’s ties, see our Billie Jean King Cup play-offs preview.
