Dayana Yastremska Opens Up About Almost Being Deported Before Indian Wells Open
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Dayana Yastremska got a couple of good victories at the 2025 Indian Wells Open, but they almost never happened after an unexpected mix-up at the airport.
When she flew to San Francisco, Yastremska was unaware of any problems. The Ukrainian had a valid visa and assumed she could enter the tournament and compete in Indian Wells without any issues.
However, in an interview with BTU, Yastremska revealed that a mistake from Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organization, led to someone from the organization telling U.S. authorities that her passport and visa were lost.
"I was flying from Nice to San Francisco via Istanbul. When I landed, they immediately wanted to deport me back to Ukraine. Apparently, someone had officially reported to US authorities through Interpol that my passport and visa were lost. But that was completely false—my passport was right there in my hands and had never been missing."
Yastremska thought she was going to be deported because of U.S. law, and spent hours waiting for her situation to be resolved despite having a visa that was valid for two more years.
"I spent four hours at airport immigration, waiting anxiously to see what would happen next. According to US law, if a passport is marked as lost in the system, the associated visa becomes automatically invalid. They stamped my visa as canceled, and honestly, at that moment I thought, 'That's it—I'm done, heading back home. Even though my visa was actually valid for another two years."
Thankfully, the 2024 Australian Open semifinalist received documentation that allows her to come to the U.S. for another six months. The WTA star will need to renew her visa after that date, even though the existing one was meant to be valid for two more years.
"After four tense hours, they gave me a document allowing me to stay in the US for six months, after which I'd need to renew my visa. It was stressful and intense—straight out of a movie. Strangely, their system didn't even show who had reported my passport as lost. I'm really thankful to the American officials who sorted it out; otherwise, I'd probably be sitting at home right now."
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Yastremska played three matches at the Indian Wells Open. She began her campaign with a convincing straight-sets victory against the 2024 ATX Open winner Yue Yuan, who is usually most comfortable playing on U.S. hardcourts.
That was followed by an even more dominant display against the three-time Grand Slam runner-up Ons Jabeur. Yastremska only dropped four sets and the Tunisian could not handle her powerful groundstrokes off both wings.
However, Iga Swiatek ensured the Ukrainian came crashing back to earth. The defending champion hammered Yastremska 6-0, 6-2 and played almost perfect tennis from the start of the match until the end.
Nonetheless, it was still a decent tournament for Yastremska. The 24-year-old mostly struggled for form during the rest of 2024 after reaching the Australian Open final over 12 months ago, but she was the finalist at the 2025 Linz Open just over a month ago.
