Dayana Yastremska was born on May 15, 2000, in Odesa, Ukraine, to Marina and Oleksandr Yastresmsky. She was introduced to tennis at the age of five by her grandfather Ivan, but she also credits her parents for pushing her in the right direction to help her succeed.
Yastremska had success as a junior player. After reaching the final of the 2016 Australian Open doubles girl's tournament, she made the final of the girls’ singles at Wimbledon, which she lost to Anastasia Potapova. Her highest ranking as a junior player was No. 6.
After getting her first WTA Tour win in 2017, Yastremska had a breakthrough at the Hong Kong Open in October 2018. Incredibly, she won the title as an 18-year-old without dropping a set throughout the tournament. This included a dominant 6-2, 6-1 final victory against Wang Qiang.
Yastremska then had a very strong 2019 season. The Ukrainian won two titles during the year at the Thailand Open in Hua Hin and the Internationaux de Strasbourg. She won dramatic finals at each event, beating both Ajla Tomljanovic and Caroline Garcia in final-set tiebreaks to claim glory.
The Ukrainian reached her first Grand Slam fourth round at the 2019 Wimbledon Championships. She achieved this with victories against Camila Giorgi, future Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin, and Viktorija Golubic before being stopped by Zhang Shuai.
2019 also brought solid runs to the third round at the Australian Open and the US Open. She was then the runner-up in January 2020 at the Adelaide International, which took her to a career-high ranking of No. 21.
Yastremska had a nightmare start to 2021. She was provisionally suspended after testing positive for mesterolone. Eventually, on June 22, 2021, the ITF ruled that Yastremska bore no fault or negligence for the positive test, and she returned to tennis immediately.
Unfortunately, the Ukrainian struggled to recapture her previous form after coming back. She lost seven Grand Slam first-round matches in a row and finished 2022 and 2023 ranked outside the Top 100.
However, Yastremska then stunningly found form at the 2024 Australian Open. After needing to qualify due to her ranking, she demolished Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova 6-1, 6-2 in the opening round. This was followed by triumphs against Varvara Gracheva and Emma Navarro. The Ukrainian was not done there.
She beat two-time champion in Melbourne Victoria Azarenka in straight sets to make the quarterfinal and then produced another excellent performance against Linda Noskova to reach the semifinal. Zheng Qinwen proved to be one challenge too many, and she ended Yastremska’s incredible tournament.
