World No. 74 Dayana Yastremska had been suspended by the ITF in January 2021 for using a substance that has been banned by World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). While she pleaded innocence, despite multiple hearings, it was not until late June 2021 that she was cleared of the investigation and allowed to compete on the Tour immediately but had to miss the Wimbledon due to a late clearance forcing her to remain absent for the third Slam of the year.
During this investigation and case, UK’s The Telegraph had published an article where they accused Dayana and her father Alexander Yastremsky of trying to hide their act of doping after being found guilty. While Dayana had threatened with legal action for the slandering of her and her father’s reputation, the publication did not take down the article for a long time leading to a lot of criticism of the Ukrainian player who was innocent and found to “bore no fault or negligence” by the ITF.
“We agree to compensate them for the damage and distress”: The Telegraph’s apology to Dayana Yastremska
Ahead of the 2022 Wimbledon where the Ukrainian player will return to play for the first time since her 4th round run in the 2019 Wimbledon Championships, the publication issued an apology to the player and her father. The report in the Telegraph was collaborated with German journalist Yannick Schneider who made the allegations by going through Instagram posts of Dayana’s ex-boyfriend.
“In June 2021, the Independent Tribunal of the International Tennis Federation, as we reported at the time, found after a full hearing that although Ms Yastremska passed a positive result in a doping test in December 2020 due to a case of contamination, this was not due to any fault, negligence or wrongdoing on the part of Ms. Yastremska, as a result of which no sanctions were imposed on her.
“We accept [this verdict] and are pleased to clarify that the Tribunal found that neither Miss Yastremska nor her father were involved in the attempt to cover up anything. We apologize to Ms Yastremska and her father and agree to compensate them for the damage and distress caused to their reputation due to our article,” read the statement of apology.
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