Dayana Yastremska will contest her maiden Grand Slam semi-final at the Australian Open on Thursday. Her run has been a surprise, given that she came through qualifying and is ranked at No. 93 in the world. But just a few years ago, Yastremska was a promising teenager making waves on the WTA Tour, reaching the world’s top 25 and winning three titles. She was also a controversial figure, as even Nick Kyrgios called out what he thought was “trash” gamesmanship from Yastremska.
Yastremska has become one of the stories of the tournament at this year’s Australian Open. The Ukrainian is the first qualifier to reach the last four in Melbourne since 1978, and she will now face 12th seed Qinwen Zheng for a spot in the final. While the 23-year-old’s rise may appear sudden, it has been a long time coming. And her young career hasn’t been without some controversy.
When Yastremska burst onto the scene as a teenager, she faced allegations of gamesmanship from her rivals and was often accused of taking unnecessary medical time-outs for unspecified injuries. One of the most memorable incidents came during the Hua Hin final in 2019. Yastremska called the physio when Ajla Tomljanovic led 5-2 in the final set, receiving treatment on her leg.
She then reeled off four straight games and went to a tiebreak, winning 6-2 2-6 7-6(3). It was a frosty handshake from Tomljanovic, who barely looked at her opponent and briefly touched her hand. And Kyrgios took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to call Yastremska out. The 28-year-old – who was in a relationship with Tomljanovic at the time – wrote: “That medical was trash.”
Doubles legend Rennae Stubbs replied: “Bush league ! Karma is a b——.” Another incident came at the Australian Open in 2020, when Yastremska was the No. 23 seed. Facing Caroline Wozniacki in what was the Dane’s retirement tournament, she called a medical timut while trailing 4-5 in the second set.
Wozniacki still went on to win 7-5 7-5 and she later accused her opponent of gamesmanship, claiming Yastremska was notorious for strategic physio calls. “Yeah, obviously she tried to break my rhythm,” the 2018 Aussie Open winner said. “And at 5-4 I don’t think there is anything wrong. She was running just fine. So that’s a trick that she’s done before, and I knew that it was coming.”
Yastremska also came under fire in 2020 when she shared images of herself in blackface. When the Black Lives Matter movement came to the forefront, she posted four photos which showed one half of her body black and the other white, writing: “Equality”. She was inundated with comments within minutes but initially refused to delete the post.
She later removed the photos from Instagram and X but claimed that she did agree with the blackface comments. “Earlier today I posted pictures that I thought would spread a message of equality. It clearly did not and has been misunderstood. I have been warned about the negative impact but I did not — and still don’t — consider it as blackface,” she wrote.
“I did not intend to caricature but to share my feelings about the current situation: we should all be treated as equal. I am so disappointed that my message has been corrupted: these pictures divided people when they were meant to unite. That’s why I deleted them. I sincerely apologise to all the people I have offended. I truly had only good intentions.”
There was even more controversy in Yastremska’s young career when she was provisionally suspended in January 2021. The ITF announced that she had tested positive WADA-banned substance following an out-of-competition urine test in November 2020. Yastremska maintained her innocence and, in June of that year, her suspension was lifted when the ITF found that she bore no fault or negligence during a hearing.
After starting 2021 as the world No. 29, she had dropped out of the top 140 by February 2022. But Yastremska has been able to find new strength following the invasion of Ukraine. Now through to her first Major semi-final, the 23-year-old has been writing messages on the camera to her home nation after her match wins and admitted that she was “on a mission for Ukraine”.
“It was about the Ukrainian fighters, and I’m very proud of them,” she said of the message she wrote after her quarter-final win. “They really deserve huge respect. I always try to write something for Ukraine, about Ukraine. I think it’s my mission here. If I do well – it’s tough to express. I’m just trying to give the signal to Ukraine that I’m really proud of it.”
