Australian Open: Angels and demons – Dayana Yastremska continues her shot at history

No Ukrainian has won a major. No qualifier has won the Australian Open. Now Ukrainian qualifier Dayana Yastremska has reached the semi-finals.

Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska celebrates her victory against Czech Republic’s Linda Noskova. Picture: AFP

A white feather has just fallen at Dayana Yastremska’s feet. Such happenstance is considered good fortune, of course. The angels are with you. She places it in the palm of her hand and delicately blows it towards the sideline. As if she’s giving it a kiss. The feather doesn’t want to leave.

It rides a puff of breeze back onto the court. This time, Yastremska leaves it there. The feather comes to rest just in front of the service box right here inside Rod Laver Arena. She has break point at 3-3 in the second set. She’s basically in line with the feather when she belts a backhand winner to all but ensure the 6-3, 6-4 victory over Czech Republic’s Linda Noskova that sends the Ukrainian into a deep-and-meaningful semi-final at the Australian Open.

We know the story. Her country’s at war. Her grandmother’s apartment was struck by “the rocket.” She won’t go near Russian or Belarusian players with a barge pole. She wants to do her homeland proud. Give everyone something to smile about between missile strikes. She’ll be a national hero if she wins the Open. She’s probably one now. She’s playing inspired, fearless tennis. As if the angels are really on her side.

Asked to translate a message she wrote on a TV camera after the match, Yastremska replied: “If you understood what I wrote, it was about the Ukrainian fighters. That I’m very proud of them. They really deserve a huge respect. I always try to write something for Ukraine, about Ukraine. I think it’s my mission here. If I do well, I can get – it’s tough to express. I’m just trying to give the signal to Ukraine that I’m really proud of it.”

Yastremska looked shocked by the ease of her victory. She dropped her racquet and looked to the sky and the feathers and the angels. She put her hands on her hips like she was a little tea pot, short and stout, as if to ask, what just happened? She did Usain Bolt’s To Da World celebration, or maybe she was firing a shot from Cupid’s Arrow. There was disbelief. Knocked her over with a feather.

Elsewhere at Melbourne Park, Ukrainian 16-year-old Yelyzaveta Kotliar found herself at the centre of an unfair and unwelcome storm after shaking hands with a Russian opponent in the girls’ singles. The Ukraine Tennis Federation called it an “unpleasant incident,” a “mistake” and reiterated its stance that “Ukrainian tennis players not hold handshakes with representatives of aggressor countries.”

Give Kotliar a break. She didn’t understand any of it. Her father said she was “deeply sorry” for doing what she thought was normal at her age. Shaking an opponent’s hand. Yastremska cut the kid some slack. “You know, Ukrainians, we have our position,” she said. “We are not shaking the hands. But I think she’s still a little bit young. Not so experienced. It can happen with everyone. I cannot judge her because I don’t know what was in her head. Did she make this on purpose or not on purpose? I don’t know. But I’m sure that she stands by Ukraine. I’m sure that she just got too emotional and confused.”

Yastremska had the tennis world at her feet in 2020. The 19-year-old rose to the World No. 21 ranking before being provisionally suspended for testing positive to an anabolic steroid. She was cleared of wrongdoing six months later. Covid was wiping out the tour. She finished last year at a lowly No. 106. Had to swallow her pride and play the qualifying event at Melbourne Park just to get into the main draw. She’s won eight consecutive matches to reach the last four. No Ukrainian has won a major; no qualifier has won the Open.

She keeps mentioning demons in her past that are unmentionable in detail. “I had a dream since I was a child and that’s what was moving me forward no matter what happened,” she says. “I had a lot of difficult situations. I don’t want to talk about it right now. Maybe some other time I can explain it and the story will sound completely differently.” Saluting her mother in the stands, she adds: “Here I have a tattoo and it says Mother Beauty. When I look it reminds me that I have to fight to the end.”