Dayana Yastremska finished 2022 in the 101st place in the WTA rankings. Obviously, this year not all Ukrainian athletes were in a position to play sports against the background of the bloody war that Russia started in our country. However, no one canceled the fight on the sports field. Dayana has played in 25 tournaments and her most successful performance was in Lyon, where the Ukrainian reached the final in March last year.

In an interview with Sport.ua, Dayana talked about her morale during the war, a kidney stone found, a horrific injury to her mother, lifehacks to help with tournaments in Australia, and the motivation that kept her from giving up tennis.

– Diane, you are currently in Australia and preparing for the Australian Open. How is this process going?

– Nice, but still hard to get used to. I’m a bit unaccustomed to this climate. In general, everything is fine, I am here with the coach and training with my mother. All the courts were closed at Christmas, so we had to smash into a wall at the hotel. In a word, everything is fine, but hot. I also sleep a lot during the day. But otherwise, everything is fine. Before that, I was in Nice for a week and a half, training there with a fitness instructor from the academy, my trainer and my sister.

– The Australian climate traditionally does not spare players. I remember a year when I had to play in a temperature of +43 degrees. Do you have any life hacks on how to alleviate your situation when playing in such conditions?

– I played against Martincova in Adelaide here in Australia in January. Then during the day the temperature was 40 degrees as I remember. It was very hot, and at such moments the legs cook very strongly. And it’s not that hot and humid here, but also dry. Therefore, it is very difficult to breathe. What I did? Between jokes, I constantly wet myself with a towel. I also wet my mouth to make breathing a little easier. Of course, you need to drink plenty of water to stay hydrated. By the way, I had a kidney stone from thirst. Accumulated…

“By the way, how are you?” How does the kidney feel?

– Everything is fine now. What followed was just a nightmare. It’s terrible to remember. I remember that morning: I just got out of bed, wanted to go to the toilet and realized that I couldn’t breathe, I was suffocating. Fortunately, my mother, father and sister were with me. An ambulance was called immediately and I woke up in the hospital in the evening. Then they learned that the stone was in the kidney. We were also curious and couldn’t understand what was going on. One of the options was appendicitis, but it went away because they kept spasms in the lower back and stomach for a very long time, and in general I felt very bad. As I recall, it’s getting worse.

When I got out of the hospital, I returned to the apartment and woke up the next morning with a panic attack. I immediately remember these feelings I had the day before. I was very afraid that this would not happen again.

Of course it was very spontaneous the day before my vacation. I had to drive to the mountains myself, but it’s good that it was only in one day. Because if it was in a car, it would be terrible.

Then I recovered for a long time, I did not train at all for two weeks. No physical activity. I was scheduled for the next scan in two weeks, prescribed different pills. I was waiting for the stone to come out and after 14 days it came out but I didn’t even feel it. It could be because of the pills he’s dissolving.

Later, when I got out of the hospital, I went to Poland to watch the Shakhtar game, where I was invited. I agreed not to sit in a severe depression.

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A post shared by Dayana Yastremska (@dayana_yastremskay)

– The great war in Ukraine made serious adjustments for all athletes. I spoke with Marta Kostyuk in the spring and she focused on the fact that playing in tournaments where rockets fly at home and kill people is very morally difficult. How did you manage to find the right mood for the matches?

– When the war started and I left, it was surprising to me that they were launching rockets in the 21st century and not solving their problems through diplomacy. I haven’t fully realized it yet, but over time this realization has come. I was constantly reading the news, watching the video, it was very distracting. Six months later, I returned to my hometown of Odessa. And it just got a little easier. Of course, you get used to everything over time. Even to the nerves.

– Which of the tournaments you played this year do you think is the most successful and which one is the most unsuccessful?

– I can not say that I have successfully played many tournaments. Probably Lyon and Dubai. And the Billie Jean Cup we played in America. Of course, the first match with Risk was not very good, but I am happy that I won the second match (vs Jessica Pegula – ed.). I really regret not flying to Japan, I just couldn’t physically fly because of what happened to the kidney. But I really wanted to play there.

Overall, the season was lousy. I understand and accept this. Terrible performance, terrible results. I understand that I can do better, I understand where I am in the standings and I can get back there. I felt mentally bad, my health was failing me. A lot…

– Has the attitude of the tournament organizers and the tennis community as a whole towards Ukrainian athletes changed? Did you feel supported or did everything stay the same, plus or minus?

“In the beginning, they showed a little more interest in us. Then everything was balanced and the demeanor was the same as before.

– Do you communicate with Russian and Belarusian tennis players on tour?

– I can say that we are in a neutral position. If they come and ask something, I can answer it calmly. And I myself do not show initiative in communicating with them.

– There is a lot of talk about the fact that Russians and Belarusians should be disqualified from all tournaments under the auspices of the WTA and ATP. Do you share this view?

– At the beginning of the year, I expressed my position: I believe that Russian players should be completely disqualified. My position has not changed.

“I heard what happened to your mother and that the champagne bottle that exploded in her hand hurt her. How was it?

– It was a long time ago. My mother was in my room, she came to buy champagne. He lifted the bottle and exploded in his hand. A piece hit his eye, he had a hole… We called an ambulance, he was taken to the hospital, surgeons removed him. They did their best to save the eye.

When she flew from Australia, they did more than one surgery, then they did the second … In a word, the memories are very unpleasant. Now, thank God, everything is fine. You can’t exert a lot of physical effort, you can’t fly very much, but the eye sees and everything is fine with it.

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A post shared by Dayana Yastremska (@dayana_yastremskay)

-Some fans were angry with Angelina Kalinina, who allegedly did not go to the national team on purpose. How problematic is it to redraw your tour schedule to call the national team? Or is this really not a question?

– I do not know anything about Kalinina, we did not discuss this topic with her. For myself, I can say that I have always loved playing for my national team. Although the dates are not very comfortable, I would love to play in Japan, but the situation with my kidney did not allow it. It is clear that it would be much more comfortable to confirm the dates of the national team matches somewhere between the tournaments. Japan, for example, was very uncomfortable this year. But that’s how it is, sometimes you can adapt.

– Another scandalous story was about the players’ letters to international organizations complaining about the leadership of the Ukrainian Tennis Federation. Then you objected to this letter. What was this?

– I remember this story. I didn’t sign anything and I don’t think this was the best time to show such feelings. My position is neutral, I have good relations with the Federation. Everyone did as they saw fit. I stuck to my opinion.

– There are many Ukrainian tennis players who have reached the adult level and lost their interest in tennis. Someone got into the modeling business, someone became a blogger. What inspires you to continue playing tennis with the conditional opportunity to become a model or a singer?
– It motivates my foundation and the opportunities that tennis offers me. There are many plans I want to implement for the future. They are associated with sports, so there is always motivation. And everything else will have its time.

Daniel VEREITIN