One to Watch: Dayana Yastremska is back in business...

Thursday 17th February 2022

Dayana Yastremska first appeared in our annual Ones to Watch report as an 18-year-old, at the start of the 2019 season.

Things went well for Dayana that year. With the Ukrainian winning two WTA titles. And by January 2020, she’d climbed to a career-best ranking of no.21 in the world.

But by the end of 2020, things had gone pretty awry for the young Ukrainian. Injury, a split with her coach, getting into trouble on social media, and then a positive test for coronavirus…

And then the biggest headline-maker of all: a doping ban. Yastremska always maintained that she was innocent of any intentional wrongdoing (citing contamination). And after several failed attempts to overturn her suspension throughout the course of the 2021 season, Dayana finally had her name cleared, and was free to return to competitive action.

It's been a long road back. The initial summer 2021 comeback saw the now-21-year-old make the semi finals at WTA Hamburg. But that was as good as it got in terms of tournament results last season.

The new year began with two 1st-round losses Down Under, first at WTA Adelaide, and then at the Australian Open. But this month, something seems to be finally clicking again for Dayana…

Dayana Yastremska is back in business…

As I write this Thursday afternoon, Yastremska is in the quarter finals at the prestigious WTA 500 event in Dubai. Having coming through the Qualifying rounds at the weekend, including an underdog win against Ones to Watch in 2022 teenager Clara Tauson.

Current world No.146 Yastremska has put together her best run since returning to the tour – winning five matches in a row here in Dubai. Including a big victory over reigning French Open champion and world No.3, Barbora Krejcikova.

All of a sudden, 2022 looks promising for this 21-year-old…

And although I’ve been following her for some years already, the fact remains that Dayana Yastremska still very much has youth on her side. And that makes her One to Watch from now on. I’ll keep you posted with her progress.

Enjoy the tennis…

Best wishes,

Tom Wilson

Ones to Watch