WASHINGTON, December 5, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)
Austria has been a happy place for Anastasia Potapova. After all, it’s where the 24-year-old player won the second of her three WTA Tour titles at the Upper Austria Ladies Linz in 2023. So, it should come as little surprise that in a year in which several Russian-born players have changed their citizenship, Potapova, a native of Saratov, Russia is the latest to change her sporting nationality.
“I am delighted to let you all know that my application for citizenship has been accepted by the Austrian Government,” Potapova wrote on her Instagram Thursday.
“Austria is a place I love, is incredibly welcoming and a place where I feel totally at home,” the former World No. 21 continued on social media. “I love being in Wien (Vienna in German) and look forward to making my second home there. As part of this, I am proud to announce that starting from 2026 I will be representing my new homeland Austria in my professional tennis career from this point onwards.”
We proudly present our 2023 Champion Anastasia Potapova
In an amazing finals she defeated Petra Martic 6:3, 6:1.
: @scalpictures pic.twitter.com/F3KCbTFklT
— #WTALinz (@WTALinz) February 12, 2023
The 5-foot-9-inch, right-handed-hitting Potapova will begin the 2026 season ranked 51st, which vaults her to the top of the WTA Tour singles rankings among Austrian players. The next-highest ranked player from Austria is Julie Grabher, who is currently ranked No. 94, followed by No. 109 Sinja Kraus, and No. 155 Lilli Tagger, who is the reigning Roland-Garros junior girls’ champion.
Potapova finished the 2025 season with a 24-18 win-loss record and won one title at Cluj-Napoca, Romania. She has not played since September at the China Open in Beijing due to injury. Her best Grand Slam finish came at the 2024 French Open, where she reached the fourth round. The former junior World No. 1 won the 2016 Wimbledon junior girls’ title.
A little time on the phone for Anastasia Potapova, who rallies in Cluj to defeat Bronzetti, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 for her third career title. pic.twitter.com/ox62bZNzHP
— TennisNow (@Tennis_Now) February 9, 2025
The change of nationalities will allow Potapova to represent Austria in Billie Jean King Cup competition. She previous represented Russia in the 2018 and 2019 competitions.
“Welcome to the team,” the Austrian tennis federation said in a statement.
Potapova’s move, after playing as a neutral athlete since 2022 (when the ATP and WTA began listing players from Russia and Belarus without flags shortly after the Russian government’s invasion of Ukraine with Belarusian support), follows several changes of nationality by Russian-born players.
The first came last March, when current World No. 37 Daria Kasatkina abandoned Russia for Australia. More recently, 146th-ranked Maria Timofeeva announced her decision to represent Uzbekistan and No. 55 Kamilla Rakhimova, whose mother is Uzbek, is reported to be the next in line to leave Russia for the Central Asian country and former Soviet republic.
