World No. 46 Dayana Yastremska shared a startling incident upon her arrival for the Indian Wells tournament. The Ukrainian tennis star revealed that she was almost deported.
“Upon landing, I was nearly deported back to Ukraine,” Yastremska explained. “Someone had officially reported through Interpol to the U.S. authorities that my passport and visa were lost. This was completely untrue; I had my passport with me, and it has never been lost.”
Yastremska endured four hours at the airport police station awaiting clarification. “According to U.S. law, if a passport is flagged as lost in the system, the U.S. visa automatically becomes invalid. They cancelled my visa, and honestly, I thought that was it, I was going to be sent back. Even though my visa was still valid for another two years.”
“After four hours, they provided me with a document allowing me to stay in the U.S. for six months, after which I would need to renew my visa. It was a very stressful and tense situation, just like in the movies. The most bizarre part was that the system didn’t show who had reported my passport as lost,” Yastremska recounted, as quoted by ‘Большой теннис Украины’.
As a reminder, Yastremska is scheduled to compete against Iga Swiatek in the third round.
