Dayana Yastremska

Dayana Oleksandrívna Yastremska (; born 15 May 2000) is a Ukrainian professional tennis player. She has a career-high Women's Tennis Association (WTA) ranking of No. 21 in the world. Yastremska has won three WTA titles in four finals appearances.
A junior Grand Slam runner-up in both singles and doubles, Yastremska had a quick breakthrough onto the WTA Tour. She made her debut in the top 100 and won two titles when she was 18 years old, including her first at the Hong Kong Tennis Open in 2018. She had a successful 2019 that helped her rise from No. 58 at the start of the year up to No. 22 by the end of the season. Yastremska was suspended from competition at the start of 2021 after testing positive for mesterolone.
Yastremska is one of the most aggressive players on the WTA Tour and has led the tour in highest percentage of shots that end in a winner, an unforced error, or an opponent's forced error.
Early life and background.
Dayana Yastremska was born on 15 May 2000 to Marina and Alexander Yastremsky in Odesa, the third-largest city in Ukraine. She has a sister Ivanna who is six years younger. Her father had been a volleyball player and also has served on the Odesa City Council. When Yastremska was five years old, her grandfather Ivan introduced her to tennis. After trying other sports such as gymnastics and swimming, she chose to focus on tennis, saying at the age of twelve, "I chose tennis because it is very hard and beautiful. I love work and I want to write my new history in tennis." She entered her first tournament when she was seven and finished in third place, despite the event being open to children who were several years older. Yastremska credits her parents for her success at tennis, saying, "When I was younger I had to sacrifice a lot of things but now I’m not regretting it... I have to say a big thank you to my parents because if they didn’t push me in the right moment then I don’t think I’d have the life I have right now."
Junior career.
Yastremska had early success as a junior, finishing runner-up at the 12-and-under Junior Orange Bowl in 2012. She made her debut on the ITF Junior Circuit in March 2014 at the age of 13. Towards the end of the year, she won her first title at a Grade 4 event in November. With this success, she moved up to playing higher-level tournaments more regularly. Yastremska reached a Grade 1 semifinal in July in Austria and won a Grade 2 title in August in Hungary. She made her debut at the highest-level Grade A tournaments in October, reaching the quarterfinals at the Osaka Mayor's Cup in Japan. She fared better in doubles, finishing runner-up to two Japanese players.
Yastremska made her junior Grand Slam debut at the 2016 Australian Open, where she made the singles quarterfinals. In doubles, she made it to the final, losing to Anna Kalinskaya and Tereza Mihalíková alongside compatriot Anastasia Zarycká. Yastremska only played Grade A tournaments the rest of the year. At the Copa Gerdau, she lost in the singles semifinals to Amanda Anisimova. In the doubles event, she partnered with Panna Udvardy to win the only Grade A title of her career, defeating the American team of Caty McNally and Natasha Subhash. After a third round appearance in singles at the 2016 French Open, Yastremska concluded her junior career at Wimbledon. At her last event, she made her only junior Grand Slam singles final. After upsetting top seed Olesya Pervushina in the semifinals, she finished runner-up to Anastasia Potapova. This helped her reach a career-high junior ranking of 6 in the world.
Professional career.
2015–17: Five ITF titles, first WTA match win.
Yastremska began playing low-level events on the ITF Women's Circuit in 2015. Her best result of the year was a semifinal loss to Markéta Vondroušová at a $10K event in Sharm El Sheikh. She won her first ITF title in March 2016 at the $25K event in Campinas, Brazil, where she came through qualifying and defeated No. 157 Alizé Lim in the final. A month and a half later, she made her WTA main draw debut at the İstanbul Cup at the age of 15. As a wild card, she lost her opening round match to Nao Hibino. A year later, Yastremska was awarded another wild card into the same tournament and defeated Andrea Petkovic for her first career WTA match win. She made it to the quarterfinals, where she lost to Jana Čepelová despite having two chances to serve for the match. Yastremska qualified for her only other WTA main draw of the year at the Nottingham Open, losing in the first round. In September, Yastremska won an ITF $60K title at the Ladies Open Dunakeszi. With this title, she rose from No. 272 to No. 202 in the world. Later that month, she defeated top seed and world No. 46 Donna Vekic in the semifinals of the $100K Neva Cup before losing to Belinda Bencic in the final. This runner-up finish brought her into the top 200 for the first time at No. 174. Yastremska also had a strong season in doubles, winning three ITF titles, including the $80K Prague Open with Anastasia Potapova.
2018: Maiden WTA title and top 100 debut at 18.
Yastremska had a slow start to the 2018 season. She lost in the second round of qualifying at the Australian Open. After injuring her ankle at the Abierto Mexicano in February, she did not enter any tournaments in March. With a ranking well outside of the top 100, she needed to enter qualifying at her first seven tournaments of the year, reaching three main draws. At the last of these events, Yastremska produced her best result, finishing runner-up to Rebecca Peterson at the $100K Open de Cagnes-sur-Mer. This result took her into the top 150 for the first time. She also reached the $100K final at the Ilkley Trophy, losing to Tereza Smitková in a third-set tiebreak. She did not enter the French Open and lost in the qualifying competition at Wimbledon. During the second week of Wimbledon, Yastremska won the separate $60K Torneo Internazionale Femminile Antico Tiro a Volo in Rome. She defeated Potapova in the final in 45 minutes, only losing one game. With this title, she made her debut in the top 100 at the age of 18.
In the second half of the season, Yastremska had more success at the WTA level. She qualified for the Premier-level Connecticut Open, where she upset No. 36 Danielle Collins for her only main draw match win. The following week, she made her Grand Slam main draw debut and was upset in her opening round match by qualifier Karolína Muchová. Yastremska made her breakthrough on the WTA Tour in her last two tournaments of the year. In October, she won her maiden WTA title at the Hong Kong Tennis Open without dropping a set. She defeated three top 100 Chinese players in the event, including No. 40 Zhang Shuai and No. 24 Wang Qiang in the semifinals and final respectively. The following week, she returned to Europe and reached another semifinal at the Luxembourg Open. She recorded her first career top 20 victory against No. 13 Garbiñe Muguruza before losing to Belinda Bencic in a third-set tiebreak. With these two results, she rose from No. 110 at the start of the month to No. 58 by the end of the year.
2019: Two WTA titles, world No. 22.
Yastremska continued to rise in the WTA rankings throughout the season, her first full year on the WTA Tour. After a quarterfinal appearance at the Hobart International, she won her first two Grand Slam main draw matches at the Australian Open before losing to Serena Williams in the third round. At her next tournament, she won her second WTA title at the Hua Hin Championships in Thailand. She upset top seed Garbiñe Muguruza again in the quarterfinal, and then defeated Ajla Tomljanović in the final in a third-set tiebreak. This title brought Yastremska to No. 34 in the world. Following this title, however, she began to struggle and only tallied one match win in her next six tournaments in part due to playing through an ankle injury. In late May, Yastremska recovered to win another title at the Internationaux de Strasbourg. She upset No. 11 Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals and then defeated No. 24 Caroline Garcia in another third-set tiebreak in a nearly three-hour match for the title. While she lost her opening round match at the French Open to Carla Suárez Navarro, she reached the fourth round at Wimbledon, her best Grand Slam result to date. She upset No. 28 Sofia Kenin before losing to Zhang Shuai.
In the second half of the season, Yastremska produced another good performance at a Grand Slam at the US Open, losing in the third round to compatriot and world No. 5 Elina Svitolina. She then achieved her best Premier 5 result of the year, a quarterfinal at the Wuhan Open. During the event, Yastremska upset world No. 2 Karolína Plíšková before losing to No. 7 Petra Kvitová. Her win over Plíšková was her first career top 10 victory. Yastremska followed up this performance with her best doubles result of the year. She partnered with Jeļena Ostapenko at the Premier Mandatory China Open and won four matches to reach the final. They upset top seeds Hsieh Su-wei and Barbora Strýcová in their second match before finishing runner-up to Kenin and Bethanie Mattek-Sands. At the end of season, Yastremska unexpectedly qualified for the WTA Elite Trophy, the second-tier year-end championships, after several higher-ranked players withdrew from consideration. She was placed in a group with No. 20 Donna Vekić and No. 10 Kiki Bertens. After both her and Bertens defeated Vekić in their opening matches, Yastremska lost to Bertens and did not advance out of her group. She finished the season at a career-high of No. 22 in the world.
2020: First Premier final.
Yastremska had a strong start to the 2020 season. She reached the final at the Premier-level Adelaide International. During the event, she defeated three top 20 players, including No. 12 Aryna Sabalenka, before finishing runner-up to world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty, who won the title in her home country. In the Australian Open she beat Kaja Juvan in the first round before falling to Caroline Wozniacki in the second, the Dane's final tournament victory before her retirement.
Ukraine played their Fed Cup Group I tournament in Estonia, where Yastremska was victorious in all three of her singles matches. She then lost in the first round in Dubai to Veronika Kudermetova before falling to Garbiñe Muguruza in the third round in Doha. This was her last match before international tennis was suspended due to the COVID-19 coronavirus.
International tennis resumed in Palermo in August, where Yastremska lost to Camila Giorgi in the singles quarter-finals. Moving to New York, she lost to Naomi Osaka in the third round of the relocated Cincinnati Premier5 tournament before falling to Madison Brengle in the second round of the US Open. Returning to Europe, she lost to Simona Halep in the third round of the Italian Open and, in a big upset, to Daria Gavrilova in the first round of the French Open.
First round losses in Ostrava and Linz completed a disappointing end to the season, one in which her only success in doubles was a win in the Fed Cup tie against Estonia. She lost in the first round of all six tournaments she played.
2021: Provisional suspension for doping.
On 7 January 2021, the ITF announced that, in November 2020, Yastremska had tested positive for a metabolite of mesterolone, an anabolic steroid medication which is prohibited by WADA. The ITF announced that, as a result of testing positive for this banned substance, Yastremska shall be provisionally suspended, "pending determination of the charge against her at a full hearing". That same day, Yastremska released a statement on Twitter, in which she denied the charges against her, asserting that she "[has] never used any performance-enhancing drugs or any prohibited substances", and that she believes the positive result to be as a result of scientific contamination. She further stated that she and her team are "resolutely determined to do everything to clear [her] name". After travelling to Melbourne, she applied for her suspension by the ITF to be lifted; this request was denied by an independent tribunal on 23 January. Her appeal against a doping ban was fast-tracked in order for her case to be resolved before the Australian Open, which began on 8 February 2021. The CAS said it will make a decision by 3 February 2021. On that date, the CAS announced that it had dismissed her appeal, and that the provisional suspension enforced by the ITF on 7 January would be upheld until the ITF reached a final decision. After the CAS released their statement, Yastremska acknowledged the provisional suspension, but said that she couldn't "express [her] disappointment about not being able to take part in the first Slam of the year" due to her suspension. She also stated that she is "confident" that she and her team will "prove [her] innocence". She vowed to "clear my name". The CAS announced on 27 April 2021 that a second application filed by Yastremska to lift her suspension had been denied, and, on 7 May 2021, they announced that an appeal filed by Yastremska against the decision to lift her provisional suspension had been dismissed, and that she would be ineligible for competition, "pending the final resolution of her case".
In May 2021, Yastremska's ex-boyfriend alleged on Instagram that Yastremska and her father had attempted to bribe him into accepting responsibility for the consumption of mesterolone, and to claim that the metabolites of the steroid drug were transmitted to Yastremska through sexual intercourse; after initially agreeing to provide an alibi for Yastremska, he retracted his statement after Yastremska's father allegedly attempted to coerce him into providing a hair sample. Research published in Der Spiegel discovered that, at her first hearing, Yastremska claimed that the positive result was as a result of a contamination event, as her ex-boyfriend was taking mesterolone to improve his sexual performance. In a statement, Yastremska claimed that the allegations levelled against her and her father were "untrue and defamatory", and that she would be taking legal action against Der Spiegel and The Telegraph, who published the allegations initially.
National representation.
Yastremska made her debut for Ukraine Fed Cup team at the 2019 Fed Cup. The team was playing a tie against the host country Poland in a third-place play-off for Europe/Africa Zone Group I. Although Yastremska won the second singles rubber against Iga Świątek, Ukraine lost the tie after failing to win either the first singles rubber or the decisive doubles rubber, the latter of which ended in a third-set tiebreak.
Playing style.
Yastremska's coach Sascha Bajin described her playing style as, "She’s a great mover and she has incredible power. Her ground strokes are very powerful." Yastremska has an aggressive attacking style and can hit high numbers of winners. She had 33 winners in the finals when she won her first two title matches, and 49 winners when she won her third title. She also can hit a high number of unforced errors while going for winners, totaling 21, 53, and 50 such errors in those three matches. As of the 2019 Australian Open, Yastremska was ranked as the most aggressive player on the WTA Tour, having led the tour with 28.6 per cent of her shots ending in a winner, an unforced error, or an opponent's forced error, a statistic known as her Aggression Score. Her average first serve speed is about . Although she ranked in the top 20 on the WTA Tour in aces in 2019, she also ranked in the top 10 in double faults. Yastremska's forehand is her best shot, and she wins a high percentage of points when she hits an inside-in forehand in particular.
Coaches.
Yastremska's parents have both been a part of her coaching team, with her mother continuing to serve as her mental coach. When Yastremska was a junior, she had a variety of different coaches. She worked with former top 100 player Viktoriya Kutuzova and Kutuzova's father Valery. She later worked with another former top 100 player in Jean-René Lisnard and then former world No. 2 Magnus Norman. As a professional in 2017, she has trained in Istanbul with Gavin Hopper, a former coach of Monica Seles. Yastremska later began training at the Justine Henin Academy, with Henin becoming her consultant in 2018. She worked with one of the academy's coaches, Oliver Jeunehomme, until September 2019. In the offseason, she hired Sascha Bajin as her new coach.
Endorsements.
Yastremska has been endorsed by Yonex for clothing, apparel, and rackets since 2019. She was previously endorsed by Nike.
Personal life.
At the 2019 Australian Open, Yastremska's mother suffered an eye injury after a champagne bottle that she was holding exploded unexpectedly. She had immediate surgery to save her eye, which was coordinated in part by Elina Svitolina's agent Stefan Gurov and financially covered by tournament director Craig Tiley. Yastremska dedicated her title at the Hua Hin Championships the following month to her mother as a result of this incident.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Yastremska began a music career. She released her first single, Thousands of Me, in May, and a dance song, "Favourite Track", in August.