From doping ban to maiden Grand Slam SF at Australian Open: The Dayana Yastremska story

Dayana Yastremska has put together a dream run at the Australian Open, reaching her maiden Grand Slam semifinals after coming through the qualifiers. It hasn't been all plain sailing for her, as her career was almost derailed by a doping ban three years ago.

Like many athletes, Yastremska took part in several sports as a kid. While swimming and gymnastics were fun, it was tennis that she fell in love with and chose to pursue.

And her time on the junior circuits showed that she made the right decision.

The Ukrainian is a junior Grand Slam runner-up in both singles and doubles. At the 2016 Australian Open, she and compatriot Anastasia Zarycka lost the doubles title to Anna Kalinskaya and Tereza Mihalíkova. At Wimbledon later that year, she beat top seed Olesya Pervushina in the singles semifinals before losing to Anastasia Potapova in the final.

In early 2016, she made her WTA main draw debut at the Istanbul Cup at the tender age of 15. A year later, she picked up her maiden WTA win at the same event by beating Andrea Petkovic.

Yastremska cracked the Top 100 for the first time in 2018 and won her first WTA singles title in Hong Kong aged 18. After becoming the first player born in the 2000s to crack the Top 100 of the rankings, she won two more titles in Hua Hin and Strasbourg the following year to break into the Top 25 in the rankings.

Just when it looked like the Odessa native was on track to make her mark on the women's tour, an anti-doping violation saw her get hit with a provisional suspension.

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Dayana Yastremska pleads innocence, fights to clear her name

Dayana Yastremska at the 2018 Connecticut Open.

Dayana Yastremska ended 2020 as the World No. 29 and the 21-year-old was considered one of the youngsters who could put together a strong run on the WTA tour the following year.

However, 2021 began on a terrible note for her as the International Tennis Federation gave her a provisional ban after testing positive for mesterolone metabolite, a banned anabolic agent that's used in male infertility treatment.

She took to social media to deny any wrongdoing and vowed to clear her name.

“I have never used any performance enhancing drugs or any prohibited substances. I am astonished and under shock. I am currently working with my team and you can be assured that I am resolutely determined to do everything to clear my name,” she said in a post on X (formerly Twitter)

Yastremska approached the Court of Arbitration for Sport, who dismissed her appeal. She filed several appeals but failed each time.

Just when it looked like all doors were closing on her, an independent tribunal, in a secondary hearing, cleared her of doping and said that she bore no fault or negligence for the violation.

After six months on the sidelines, she returned to action in Hamburg as the World No. 38 and finished the season just inside the Top 100. She struggled to bounce back, finishing 2022 and 2023 outside the Top 100.

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Dayana Yastremska begins 2024 with a bang, reaches semifinals at the Australian Open

Dayana Yastremska at the 2024 Australian Open.

Dayana Yastremska's off-court issues and her struggles since making her comeback saw her slip from the minds of casual tennis fans. She began the 2024 season in Brisbane, where she came through the qualifiers before losing to Daria Saville in the opening round.

She entered the Australian Open in the qualifiers, where she registered three-set wins thrice to reach the main draw. If anyone thought that she was there to fill out the draw, she proved them wrong when she schooled World No. 7 and reigning Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova in the opening round.

Yastremska then defeated four other higher-ranked players, including two seeds, and dropped one set along the way to book her place in the semifinals in Melbourne, becoming the first qualifier to do so since 1978.

She is also just the fourth player in the past 40 years (after Gabriela Sabatini, Martina Hingis, and Dominika Cibulkova) to reach the last four by defeating only Top 50 opponents.

The 23-year-old is one of only four teenagers to win three or more titles in the last decade. Three of them — Coco Gauff, Bianca Andreescu, and Iga Swiatek 1 are already Grand Slam champions.

And Dayana Yastremska now finds herself two matches away from emulating the talented trio.