“She’s on a mission,” Dayana Yastremska is playing the Australian Open for a cause bigger than herself as her coach Emmanuel Heussner makes it clear in recent interview

Dayana Yastremska scripted history with her semifinal qualification at the 2024 Australian Open.

“She’s on a mission,” Dayana Yastremska is playing the Australian Open for a cause bigger than herself as her coach Emmanuel Heussner makes it clear in recent interview

Dayana Yastremska and her coach Emmanuel Heussner (Image via We Love Tennis)

Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska made it to her maiden Grand Slam semifinal as she beat Linda Noskova in the quarterfinal of the 2024 Australian Open. The 23-year-old has played some top-level tennis to outclass her opponents. Apart from leaving an impact with her tennis, Yastremska has also tried to play for her country’s people.

Yastremska has refrained from shaking hands with her Russian and Belarusian counterparts whenever she has played against them. The Ukrainian also recently talked about her decision saying that Ukrainian players have agreed upon not shaking hands to maintain their position on the Russia-Ukraine war.

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Now, Yastremska’s coach, Emmanuel Heussner has talked about the Ukrainian’s mission. Heussner has claimed that the 23-year-old is playing for a cause bigger than herself. He reveals that Yastremska has been through difficult times. However, she has learned to have fun again and it is reflected in her performance.

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We have a word in the team that defines our attitude: “trust”, trust in what you want to do. I think she is on a mission, she received a lot of messages from Ukraine and it touched her. She went through very difficult times, and now she has learned to have fun again, which is one of the keys to her current success.
Emmanuel Heussner said to We Love Tennis.

A more mature Dayana Yastremska talks about the importance of having family closer while competing on tour

As mentioned by her coach, Dayana Yastremska has been through a lot, not having the privilege to travel with her parents was one of those difficulties. After her quarterfinal win, Yastremska talked about the importance of having someone from the family closer while traveling and competing on the tour.

Dayana Yastremska
Dayana Yastremska (Credit: Kentucky Today)

The 23-year-old revealed how the Russia-Ukraine war changed things for her as she could not be with her parents. Yastremska then also talked about how being alone helped her mature and now when she is reunited with her mother, the relationship has only gotten better. 

So only from last year my mother started again to travel with me for some tournaments. I think it's really nice, because before, I always wanted to be by myself, alone, and now we have better relationship than before, and we can spend a lot of time behind the court together.
Dayana Yastremska said. (H/T: Australian Open)

The Ukrainian star has scripted history as she has become the lowest-ranked player through to the last four at Melbourne Park in the past 40 years, and only the second qualifier to push as deep at the Australian Open since Christine Dorey in 1978. Dayana Yastremska faces Qinwen Zheng in the semifinals who is also playing in a Grand Slam semifinal for the first time.

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