Adelaide finalist Dayana Yastremska to miss Australian Open due to doping breach

Dayana Yastremska claims a positive drug sample is the result of contamination and vows to fight for her reputation after being stood down from the circuit

2020 Adelaide International runner-up Dayana Yastremska has been issued a provisional suspension over a doping breach. (Photo by Mark Brake/Getty Images)

The future of Dayana Yastremska, a woman considered a rising star in tennis, is clouded after she was provisionally suspended for a doping breach on Friday.

The 20-year-old demonstrated her quality in Australia last January when reaching the final of the Adelaide International before falling to world No 1 Ash Barty.

The Ukrainian, who is the third highest ranked woman aged 21 or younger behind major winners Bianca Andreescu and Iga Swiatek, recorded a positive test for a mesterolone metabolite in November.

Mesterolone is an androgen and anabolic steroid that is used mainly to treat male infertility and low testosterone levels, but it does have muscle-building capabilities and also strips fat from bodies.

The right-hander, who reached the round of 16 at Wimbledon in 2019, issued a statement where she said the sample must be contaminated and that she was “astonished and under shock”.

A winner of three WTA titles as a teenager, she said she recorded a negative test at a tournament in Linz a fortnight before the out-of-competition sample being taken.

“I firmly state that I have never used any performance enhancing drugs or any prohibited substances,” she said.

“After this last tournament for the year, I stopped practising to rest prior to the start of the season. Only a very low level of mesterolone metabolite was detected in my urine.

“Given that low concentration and given my negative test two weeks earlier, I have received scientific advice that the result is consistent with some form of contamination event.

“Besides, I have been informed that this substance is meant for use as medication by men and that women are advised not to use it due to the adverse effects it causes.”

Statement: pic.twitter.com/pBEpJ8gkls

— Dayana Yastremska (@D_Yastremska) January 7, 2021

In December, Yastremska said she tested positive to COVID-19, which forced her to isolate in Dubai and prevented her from training.

She was issued with an anti-doping charge a week later on December 22.

Yastremska would have been seeded at the Australian Open and also a lead-in event held in Melbourne at the start of February.

But she will now miss the first grand slam of 2021 pending a hearing.

Her absence brings veteran Australian Sam Stosur a step closer to earning direct entry into the major.

Tennis Australia has reserved a wildcard which would go to Stosur, whose ranking of 112 sits just outside the main draw cut-off.

Should the 35-year-old earn a start on her own merit, it will open the path for another local to compete in the Australian Open.