La mésaventure de Yastremska à Indian Wells : « À mon arrivée, ils voulaient m’expulser vers l’Ukraine »
This Sunday morning on the center court at Indian Wells, Dayana Yastremska will face a major challenge. After eliminating Yuan Yue (6-2, 6-4) and then Ons Jabeur (6-3, 6-1), the Ukrainian will face world number 2 and defending champion Iga Swiatek in the third round.
Yastremska, ranked 46th in the world and a finalist at the WTA 500 tournament in Linz earlier in the season, lost to the Pole in Dubai and will seek revenge. Meanwhile, the 24-year-old player, a former world number 22, shared her misadventure upon arriving at the airport.
Yastremska explained that she was close to being unable to participate in the California tournament this year due to passport issues.
"I flew to the United States from Nice to Istanbul, then from Istanbul to San Francisco, and upon arrival, they wanted to deport me to Ukraine because someone, through Interpol, had officially filed a request with the United States about my passport with a visa that I allegedly lost.
In fact, this is not true, as my passport was in my hands and was never lost. I spent four hours at the airport with the police, waiting for results.
According to the law in the United States, if a passport is considered lost in the system, the U.S. visa automatically becomes invalid. To be honest, I thought that as soon as I arrived, I would have to go back!
Four hours later, they gave me a paper stating that I could stay in the United States for six months, after which my visa would need to be redone. It was nerve-wracking and tense, like in the movies.
What is most delicate is that in this system, they could not see where the information that my passport had been lost came from. I thank the U.S. authorities for letting me in, otherwise I would be at home right now," Yastremska concluded to the Ukrainian media.
Indian Wells 
