The copycat controversy surrounding Emma Raducanu’s Australian Open conqueror

Russian tennis player Anastasia Potapova has brushed aside fan reactions to the striking similarity between her recent nationality switch announcement and that of fellow player Daria Kasatkina, stating there was "nothing wrong" with borrowing "perfect words."

In December, the world number 55 declared her allegiance to Austria via social media, a post that eagle-eyed fans quickly noted bore a remarkable resemblance to Kasatkina's announcement when she began representing Australia.

Potapova's post claimed Austria was "a place I love, is incredibly welcoming and a place where I feel totally at home," mirroring the exact phrasing Kasatkina used in March to describe Australia.

Kasatkina herself acknowledged the parallels on X, quipping: "no, we are not from same agency."

Potapova is now through to the third round of the Australian Open after beating Britain’s Emma Raducanu, and she defended her choice of words when addressing reporters earlier this week.

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"Well, I don't find anything wrong with that because you cannot say it in a better way," she explained after her 3-6 7-5 6-2 victory over Dutchwoman Suzan Lamens in the first round.

"And why not? It was perfect words. I loved it. We loved it with my team, with everyone. So, yeah, we gave it a shot."

She added: "I don't think that it's something terrible happened. I think the media just blew it up just because they didn't like me with the fact of it happening. I mean, who cares about posts, right?"

The 24-year-old had previously competed on the WTA Tour as a neutral athlete, a consequence of the ban on Russian and Belarusian players competing under their national flags following Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Potapova joins a growing list of Russian-born tennis players who have changed their nationalities, including Kasatkina, Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan), Kamilla Rakhimova (Uzbekistan), and Polina Kudermetova (Uzbekistan).