Daria Kasatkina became the first Russian tennis player to admit her homosexuality in an interview with YouTube channel Vitya Kravchenko. Immediately after the interview, she posted a joint photo with Russian skater Natalya Zabiyako and signed it wholeheartedly.
Zabiyako responded with the same photo on her page, and then posted two more posts with new joint pictures that left no doubt that the girls were dating.
“It doesn’t make sense to live in a closet for a long time. It will always be spinning in your head until you say it. It is clear that everyone chooses how to open and how much to open, but you have to live comfortably with yourself – that’s the main thing, ”Kasatkina said about her orientation.
The tennis player has previously admitted that she is not against relationships with her gender. True, he did not say in April 2021 that he has not yet fully decided.
“Which is more comfortable for me – with a man or with a woman? Good question, I still know. There are both pluses, ”Kasatkina said in an interview with Sports.ru.
– Relationship with a girl is not a problem for me. Women know better how to throw the straws correctly and how to hook them. Probably, with a girl you still understand each other better.
There are many misunderstandings between a man and a woman. Of course, I would like to understand myself better, to know exactly what I want. I don’t know, ask me after a few years and I will answer you.
But the tennis player decided faster – a little more than a year later, the same interview and photos were published, embracing Zabiyako.
By the way, joint photos of the two girls began to appear on social networks since October 2021, when the skater made a post about a joint breakfast.
In December, they were photographed hugging at the Port Aventura amusement park near Barcelona, where Kasatkina lives permanently.
“A dump of the head can be versatile… A sweet day of adrenaline,” the figure skater said in this post.
A week later, Zabiyako posted a video of her skating on Red Square with Kasatkina from Snowy Moscow.
At the same time, it turned out that the skater divorced director Danil Grinkin, whom she married in 2020, and accepted his proposal of marriage in 2018.
“I do not remember what I said and what I thought at that moment … – this is how the director described the day he proposed. – Thoughts dissolved in crazy fast running moments!
But I know for sure that from the first second of our meeting I did not doubt a single thing: you are my only asset!
And I want to write the story of this life just next to you! I will be the coolest husband! At least I’ll try.”
A few months before the unexpected separation, Grinkin actively supported the skater in training and on the set of the Ice Age, where he performed in a duet with singer Nikita Presnyakov.
“My husband is director Danil Grinkin,” Zabiyako told Express Gazeta after another shooting day of the ice show. We met in May 2018. The Olympic season is over and I’ve had a vacation.
Danil wrote to me on the social network after reading the article “The most beautiful athletes of the Pyeongchang Olympics”. Invited to coffee. “Why not?” I thought.
In 2020 St. Petersburg signed. There was no honeymoon trip and special celebration due to the pandemic. By the way, she did not insist on going to the registry office, it was Danil’s initiative.
But of course it’s nice that we’re married. I took my husband’s name and now the Grinkin. Of course we want to be parents but not in the near future. As long as we live for ourselves.”
Everything seemed to be going well for the couple.
Grinkin even made a documentary about Zabiyako and her partner Alexander Enbert, in which the girl competes in sports doubles.
Together they became the silver medalist of the team tournament in PyeongChang-2018 and the bronze medalist at the World Championships in 2019.
Grinkin’s movie “Unbroken” tells the story of Zabiyako and Enbert preparing for the 2019 World Cup and winning a medal.
“At first I did not take this idea seriously, and then our coach Nina Moser supported it, and everything went well. The picture was shown in theaters in Russia and the USA, ”says Zabiyako.
The figure skater also admitted that she wants to connect her future life with cinema (in 2019 she had to end her sports career due to heart problems with her spouse). During the quarantine, Zabiyako actively read books on this topic and wrote several scripts with her husband.
But now, the plans in his life have changed dramatically. The girl deleted all romantic photos with Grinkin, which filled her social networks.
In early February 2022, he posted another picture of a joint breakfast with Kasatkina, where he rested his head on the shoulder of a tennis player.
In May 2020, it became known that Zabiyako plans to change her sports citizenship and play for Canada alongside Olympic champion Gabrielle Daleman’s brother, Zachary Daleman.
In July, however, Canada withdrew Zabiyako’s request for a change of citizenship for an unknown reason. Now the skater has returned to Europe, where she is looking for new options to continue her career.
On the one hand – failure, on the other – he had time to be with Kasatkina when he returned from the tour to Barcelona.
American tennis player Roland Garros 2022 finalist Corey Gauff publicly supported this couple and the appearance of Kasatkina.
“To admit that must be terrifying, especially considering that in his country it is not treated as tolerantly as in the United States. I am really happy for Daria. I can only imagine how many people he inspired. That’s why I think it’s important to talk about these issues.”