THE UKRAINIAN PROFESSIONAL TENNIS PLAYER Dayana Yastremska hugged her father, tears running down her cheeks. She had to let go. A small boat was waiting to take her and her 15-year-old sister, Ivanna. Her father had driven from her home in Odessa, Ukraine, about 150 miles south to Izmail, a smaller city in the Danube Delta. Along her drive early Friday morning, the day after Russia invaded Ukraine, she saw the devastation the war had already caused. Smoke, buildings turned to rubble, an eerie silence.
Her father parked the car in Izmail, and the family walked the last five minutes to the port, to the boat that would take Dayana and her sister to Romania. Her father placed a kiss on her forehead as she clutched two suitcases, her entire life haphazardly packed into them.
“I don’t know how this war will end, but you have to take care of each other, and strive for your dreams, build your new life and always be together,” her father told her. “Don’t worry about us, everything will be fine.”
In matching pink sweatpants, the sisters walked away from their parents, carrying their bags toward the boat. As the boat’s motor roared, they waved vigorously to their parents, to the country they were forced to leave, to everything they knew as home.
“Is it a movie or is it real?” Yastremska thought again and again.
Several days before, she had laughed with her family over dinner and worried about her practice the next day. Today, she didn’t know if she would ever see her father again. Today, she did not know if she would have a country to return to.
Yastremska is now safely in Lyon, France, and despite the horror of the past few days, she has plans to compete at the Lyon Open starting Monday. The World No.121, who rose to No.21 in January 2020, has won three WTA titles in her career.
Nine Ukrainian women are among the top 300 players on the WTA Tour; three Ukrainian men are ranked in the top 300 on the ATP Tour.
World No.15 Elina Svitolina, who is also from Odessa and currently resides in London, posted on her social media. “My heart is bleeding… Another sleepless and terrifying night for the Ukrainian people. PLEASE HELP US STOP THE WAR.”
“If Russia stops fighting, there will be no war. If Ukraine stops fighting, there will be no Ukraine,” wrote World No.49 Marta Kostyuk, who played doubles with Yastremska at the 2022 Australian Open (they reached the third round). .
They are among the millions of Ukrainians facing the devastating consequences of the war. Hundreds of Ukrainians have been killed. A senior US defense official told reporters Saturday morning that there have been “more than 250” missile launches by Russian forces in Ukraine. More than 150,000 people have crossed from Ukraine to neighboring countries.
Yastremska, 21, said she didn’t want to draw attention to herself, but knew it was important for the world to see the impact of the war. So she posted about her journey on her Instagram, and was inundated with messages from strangers and other tennis players offering support and help. Sloane Stephens, Amanda Anisimova and other players sent their support for her by commenting on her post.
YASTREMSKA WAKE UP abruptly in the early hours of Thursday.
The sound of the bombs reverberated throughout the city, giving him goosebumps. She rubbed her eyes and ran to her parents in the living room.
The Russian armed forces had begun their invasion of Ukraine, the news channels announced. They attacked from all directions, and Odessa, a port city that shares borders with Moldova to the west, Romania to the south, and the Black Sea to the east, was threatened.
Leaving their belongings in the apartment, they ran to the parking lot. They were told to find an underground area and hide. They stayed there for hours, huddled together for comfort. Yastremska received panicked messages from friends across Ukraine, some gathering in underground metro stations while others found parking spaces near them.
Yastremska heard “terrifying explosions”, some far away, some so close that she thought the next explosion would land in her apartment. With just one bomb, they would be wiped off the face of the earth, she thought.
“I’m so scared. We don’t need to kill each other like this.”
Dayana Yastremska
Later that night, when his father thought everything had calmed down, they quietly returned to his apartment to check the news. Things were going to get worse in Odessa, the local news channel said.
“We have to get you two out of here,” her father told Yastremska and her sister.
The Moldovan borders were closed. After hearing stories about people who escaped by boat to Romania, he made up his mind. He would drive them to the border and put them in a boat.
Yastremska, who had received a wild card to play in Lyon, could get on a flight with her sister to France if they could just find a way out of Ukraine, as commercial flights in and out of Ukraine had stopped. Sleep eluded them as they headed back to the parking lot to wait. They would leave before dawn the next morning. It was the safest time to drive a car, her father thought.
This is how Yastremska found all her belongings on a boat to Romania.
YOUR PUFFY EYES Lacking sleep, Yastremska sat in her hotel room in Lyon, France, in an oversized black T-shirt, her hair in a disheveled ponytail. It was 2:30 pm French time on Saturday, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine continued, Ukrainian forces mounting a resistance as Russia advanced on their cities.
“I’m so scared,” she told ESPN on a Zoom video call. “We don’t need to kill each other like that.”
Within hours, Yastremska had not only been forced to become a refugee, but had also become her younger sister’s guardian. She had to be strong for her, take care of her, all this time dealing with her own trauma.
After reaching the Romanian border, the sisters waited in line and were put in a car for Bucharest, the Romanian capital, where they stayed in a hotel for several hours. Their two cousins, who had gotten on the boat with them, decided to go to Hungary, to their maternal grandmother’s house. Yastremska and her sister flew to France, where they were welcomed by the Lyon Open 2022 tournament director.
She texted her parents, called them as much as she could. They’re fine for now, she said. They were still hiding in the parking lot. When her father drove back to Odessa after dropping off Yastremska and her sister, she saw a lot of activity on the roads, Ukrainian soldiers wandering around, waiting to defend her land.
It’s been days since she has actively thought about tennis, about playing, but on Monday, she will enter the court as a proud Ukrainian. She will give her best, she said.
What comes after the Lyon Open?
“I have no idea,” she said. “We will see what happens with Ukraine, with my city.”
“I have to think about my sister, her safety…” she said, her voice trailing off.
Although she was out of danger, every few minutes she says that she thought about the missiles that were launched in her home country, her city. And each time, she jumped, her body reacting unintentionally, her bones feeling the vibrations of the attack.
“I am scared for my parents, my friends, and everyone in my country,” she said. “In order for you to understand what a missile attack is like, you need to feel it. But, I wish you [nadie] never have to feel this [dolor]”.
