March 9, 2025, 9:54 a.m.
(Photo: VTU)
Tennis player Diana Yastremska, a native of Odesa, was almost deprived of the opportunity to stay in the United States and continue to participate in the WTA 1000 tournament in Indian Wells because of an unknown enemy.
According to the athlete in an interview with BTU, someone officially applied to Interpol with a statement that she had lost her passport and visa, and she was almost deported right from the airport.
"I spent four hours at the airport with the police, waiting for some results. According to the law, in the United States, if a passport is considered lost in the system, the American visa becomes automatically invalid. They crossed it off and, to be honest, I thought that was it, we're done, we're flying back (laughs). But in fact, I had a visa for two more years," said Diana Yastremska.
The Indian Wells Masters is a tennis tournament that is held simultaneously among women and men. It belongs to the Premier Mandatory tournaments for women and the ATP Masters 1000 series for men. The tournament takes place in Indian Wells, California, USA. As a rule, it is held every year in March. This is the first of nine ATP Masters 1000 tournaments. The tournament is held on hard courts; it has the largest attendance among spectators after the Grand Slam tournaments.
Within four hours, she was issued a certificate stating that she could stay in the United States for six months, after which her visa had to be renewed.
"It was nerve-wracking and tense, just like in the movies. The most interesting thing is that they could not see in the system who had received the information that my passport had been lost. I'm grateful to the Americans for letting me in, otherwise I could have just stayed at home," said Diana Yastremska.
The day before, Diana Yastremska reached the third round of the tournament after defeating<b> Ons Jaber</b> from Tunisia.
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