Mentally impacted by the Russian missile attack that hit Ukraine on Monday, Ukrainian tennis player Dayana Yastremska admitted that she didn’t even notice that her opponent Tamara Korpatsch had 2 match points, which Yastremska saved to make it into the second round of Transylvania Open after a strong comeback.
Dayana Yastremska, a 22-year-old Ukrainian, defeated German Tamara Korpatsch in a fantastic battle on Central Court after fending off two match points and recovering from a 2-5 hole in the third set. „I think that’s my first win since the last eight tournaments, and of course, I’m very excited about it.
I didn’t really know that she had two match points, to be honest. I lost myself in the match and I didn’t follow the score, maybe that’s why it helped me”, Dayana Yastremska said in the post-match interview with Horia Tecau.
Yastremska, World No. 94, went on to say she likes to play in Cluj. „I really like the court here, but still it was very hard because in the morning I read the news and we received today more than 90 rockets (Russian missiles hit several Ukrainian cities).
What is going on now is terrible, and after I saw all this news I got pretty negative about everything. I really like to play here in Romania, because when the war started we escaped, with my sister, to Romania, people were really nice , I received a lot of support from the Romanians, so it is a pleasure to play here,” said Yamstrenska.
Yamstrenska on Wimbledon’s decision to ban Russian players
Dayana Yastremska believes Wimbledon did the right thing by placing a player ban on Russian and Belarussian players this year. Wimbledon got various reactions to their move, with some players supporting it, others believing that combining politics and sports was a bad idea, and yet others remaining neutral.
“How would I be able to play against those players at the tournament when all the world is talking about the war that is being fought against Ukraine? So I think the decision they are making is right. I think the decision they made is very respectful , they did the right thing.
What they’ve done for Ukraine is the right thing. Other players (Ukrainian) are supporting it as well,” said Yamstrenska.