“At 12 or at 1 or 2 o’clock in the night, they start massive attacks”: Dayana Yastremska on not getting rest back home in Ukraine

Dayana Yastremska made a winning start to her campaign at the San Diego Open on Tuesday, February 27. She defeated Caroline Dolehide 6-4, 5-7, 6-1 in the Round of 32 at Barnes Stadium.

The World No. 33 has been busy since the turn of the year. She began the 2024 season by competing at the Brisbane International, where she suffered a first-round exit after entering the main draw through the qualifiers.

Yastremska then traveled to Melbourne for the Australian Open and displayed an impressive effort. She once again started her journey at the qualifiers and went as far as the semifinals of the first Grand Slam of the year. During her run, she defeated top players, including reigning Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova and Victoria Azarenka.

The Ukrainian then participated at the Linz Open in Austria, where she lost to third seed Donna Vekic in the second round. She then opted to take a break and returned to her home in Ukraine before traveling to the Dubai Tennis Championships two weeks later.

Yastremska's downtime, however, didn't go as planned as she spent sleepless nights due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. Speaking about her time at home during the prost-match press conference in San Diego, the Ukraininan detailed her stressful time off.

"After Australian Open, I went to Linz, straightaway. I played two matches there and then I come back home, I spend there one week. I wouldn't say like it was a huge rest because… usually at 12 or at 1 or 2 o'clock in the night, they start massive attacks," Yastremska revealed in her press conference after defeating Dolehide at the San Diego Open.

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Dayana Yastremska: "You need to be following the information where it says like drones are coming to us or not, so you stay pretty long awake"

Dayana Yastremska

During the same press conference, Dayana Yastremska revealed that the locals in her hometown of Odesa were always on their toes, given that a drone strike could occur at any time.

"You need to be really following the information on the public where it says like drones are coming to us or not so you stay pretty long awake," she added.

Yastremska further revealed that she had to take cover inside an underground parking lot three times during her week-long stay back home.

"If it happens then you need to go to the parking and that's what I did three times during the one week and I would say I didn't rest there a lot but it was nice to go back home to see my family of course," Dayana Yastremska added.

Yastremska will next face Russia's Anna Blinkova in the second round of the San Diego Open on Thursday, February 29.