Dayana Yastremska is the tennis star with a supposed allergy to grass who is plotting to take one of Wimbledon‘s most notable scalps: Coco Gauff.
The world No 42 will meet Gauff on Centre Court on Tuesday evening aiming to derail the American’s bid for a second Grand Slam title of the year.
And there are not many players at SW19 with a more unique backstory: wrapped into one, Yastremska is a survivor of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a music star, a persistent soul who came through a misapplied doping ban, a multi-brand ambassador, and an Instagram model with 216,000 followers.
Yastremska has the potential to cause an upset – last year she reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open – and Gauff will be wary in this first-round clash.
This year she has reached two WTA finals – losing in Linz and at Nottingham – and has beaten higher-ranked stars such as Leylah Fernandez.
Gauff comes into Tuesday’s clash as the heavy favourite – in June she won the French Open with only two dropped sets in seven matches – but this is a banana skin.
Dayana Yastremska is the Wimbledon tennis star hoping to cause an upset against Coco Gauff
The Ukrainian has built up a strong following on Instagram after sharing insights into her life
She has reached two WTA finals in 2025 and reached the last four of the 2024 Australian Open
Yastremska, 25, wiil have a lot of people behind her coming into the showdown.
She has struck up high-profile friendship with other Ukrainian stars – fellow Wimbledon competitor Marta Kostyuk, judo champion Daria Bilodid, and fashion model Daria Stanislavovna – and readily flaunts their glamorous outings on Instagram.
In May she hosted an exclusive party in Monaco for her 25th birthday and wore her ‘dream dress’ – a sparkly number which fans described as ‘shining bright like millions of diamonds’.
She enjoyed a beach party with the aforementioned stars and invited along her younger sister Ivanna, who is also a tennis player.
Yastremska readily shares insights into her jet-setting lifestyle with her fans, whether that’s unseen contemplative snaps by Rome’s Trevi fountain, photos from her mother’s birthday outing in Dubai, or trips to fashion stores in London.
If that’s not enough, she has also posted snaps from Cannes, Barcelona, and Miami.
Such is the life that tennis affords its elite stars – Yastremska’s career earnings are reported to be as high as £3.93million.
She has also built up a following in the music world, having kicked off her career in that sector in 2020 under the name DY.
Yastremska invited a host of fellow Ukrainian stars to her 25th birthday party in Monaco
The star from Odessa has ranked as highly as 21st in the world but now sits 42nd overall
She had to flee her home during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and has paid tribute to her homeland in her music and antics on the court
She regularly shares snaps from around with world with her army of 216,000 Instagram fans
In 2020, during lockdown, she spilled her first single, ‘Thousands of Me’ in the world. She was still making music as of last year, releasing a song called ‘Hearts’ in tribute to her homeland.
For all the high-powered career moves and social media serenity, Yastremska’s road to this stage has been bumpy.
In 2022 she had to flee her homeland with her sister after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, leaving her family behind.
Her father had driven her 150 miles from their home in Odessa to Izmail, where she cried floods of tears as she hugged him before boarding a boat.
‘I don’t know how this war will end, but you must take care of each other, and strive for your dreams, build your new life and always be together,’ her father said to her, via ESPN. ‘Don’t worry about us, everything will be fine.’
She and her sister sought shelter in a hotel in Lyon and were given wildcard entry to the city’s open, where Yastremska reached her first final since 2020.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a tragedy Yastremska carries with her day by day, something she has continued to raise in public.
After beating Linda Noskova in the quarter-finals of last year’s Australian Open – thereby becoming the first qualifier to make the last four – she wrote on a camera: ‘I’m proud of our fighting people from Ukraine.’
She hinted at the Nottingham Open that she may have a grass allergy, which makes her an unlikely Wimbledon star
Her career earnings are believed to be as high as £3.93million – a very repectable haul
Coco Gauff is aiming to win her second Grand Slam of the year after claiming the French Open
Yastremska has also had trials more directly linked to her career. In June 2021 she had a doping ban lifted – five months after it was dished out – after it was found that she had tested positive by contamination.
She had tested positive for the performance-enhancing drug mesterolone metabolite and missed the French Open and Wimbledon that year as a result.
‘I’ve been through a lot during the last six months and it has been difficult to cope with all the negative comments,’ she said upon hearing that her ban had been overturned.
And so here we arrive at Wimbledon. Ranked 42nd in the world, Yastremska is an outsider but in with a shout of an upset. Her highest ranking to date has been 21st.
One factor she will have to negotiate is a… grass allergy?
At the Nottingham Open in June she said: ‘I really love playing on grass, even though I think I have a bit of an allergy to grass!
‘I’m very excited, and I was proud of myself. In general everything worked pretty well.
‘I can’t wait to play in the finals tomorrow. Finally I won’t be playing at 11 am, which I’ve been doing all week, so I can sleep tomorrow a little bit more!’
Grass allergy or not, Yastremska knows she can cut it at SW19, having made it to the fourth round in 2019. First, a clash with Gauff. Win that, and the tournament is her oyster.
