Ukrainian tennis player Dayana Yastremska made quite a sad admission after her San Diego first-round win as she revealed that she didn’t get to rest much during her recent visit to Ukraine because drone attacks usually happen at night and she always had to be alert and ready to react in case of drone attacks.
In Australia, 23-year-old Yastremska started her season with a bang as she made her first Grand Slam semifinal as a qualifier. After losing in the Australian Open semifinal to Zheng Qinwen, Yastremska decided to compete at a WTA 500 tournament in Linz in late January and early February. Following a Linz round-of-16 loss to Donna Vekic, Yastremska returned to Ukraine to visit and spend some time with her family in Odesa.
Yastremska got back to playing again at last week’s WTA 1000 tournament in Dubai before traveling to the United States and kicking off her San Diego Open run with a 6-4 5-7 6-1 win over American Caroline Dolehide on Tuesday.
Dayana Yastremska© Getty Images Sport – Orlando Ramirez
Yastremska on how her return to Ukraine went
“After Australian Open, I went to Linz, straightaway. I played two matches there and then I come back home, I spend there one week. I wouldn’t say like it was a huge rest because… usually at 12 or at 1 or 2 o’clock in the night, they start massive attacks,” Yastremska said in her press conference after starting her San Diego campaign with a win.
“You need to be really following the information on the public where it says like drones are coming to us or not so you stay pretty long awake.
“If it happens then you need to go to the parking and that’s what I did three times during the one week and I would say I didn’t rest there a lot but it was nice to go back home to see my family of course.”
Dayana Yastremska© Getty Images Sport – Julian Finney
For a place in the San Diego quarterfinal, Yastremska will play against Anna Blinkova. Heading into the match, Yastremska owns a 1-0 head-to-head, having beaten Blinkova in Rouen last year.
Since Blinkova is Russian and Yastremska and other Ukrainian players haven’t been shaking hands with Russian players for two years, there certainly won’t be a handshake after their match ends.
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