Elina Svitolina: Imperishable - Issue #14

Shining a much-deserved spotlight on Ukraine’s biggest athlete and one of the biggest fighters in women’s tennis.

Written by Dove Sallow

While Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine continues to rage, Ukrainian tennis players have courageously and valiantly continued in their respective careers, with no safe place to call home in their off season. For one very recognizable Ukrainian player in particular, the war seemed to come at a pivotal moment in her life. Elina Svitolina is the most accomplished Ukrainian player in the country’s history. She reached a career high ranking of #3, has won a whopping 16 WTA titles (including the 2018 WTA Finals), spent 212 consecutive weeks in the WTA Top 10, reached 2 grand slam semifinals (Wimbledon and US Open), earned 21.4 million dollars in prize money, and won Ukraine its first Olympic tennis medal (bronze) last year in Tokyo. She started off her 2022 season pregnant and with her homeland at war. She made it clear she wanted to play tennis to be a source of brightness and hope for her country. But she was unable to continue due to her pregnancy and a shift in focus to raising awareness about Ukraine’s battle for freedom. Although she’s been absent from tennis for many months, Elina has not been forgotten. This week, we’re shining a much-deserved spotlight on the matriarch of Ukrainian tennis.

Elina’s career has been one of the most consistent we’ve seen in the past decade. 16 WTA titles by the age of 27 is a milestone achievement by any standard. But to come from a country that has little history of producing world-class tennis players, her achievements and consistency at the top of the sport are even more impressive. Much of her success is due to her tenacious style of play. She’s known for being one of the best counterpunchers on tour, with the ability to outlast her opponents and track down nearly anything. Elina’s trademark is her consistency, but she hits the ball with moderate pace and is known for her court craft. In a world full of Sabalenka’s, Pliskova’s, and Kvitova’s, Svitolina plays a game of wit and endurance. She neutralizes first serves beautifully, opens up the court with angles, and forces her opponent’s into awkward and daunting positions. Her backhand is one of the best on tour as she can roll it cross court for sharp angles and also hit it big down the line. She doesn’t possess the biggest serve on tour, but she often gets great placement with her first serve and can rack up aces when she’s confident. Commentators and tennis critics alike have criticized her more defensive style of play in an era where women’s tennis is dominated by huge power, but results don’t lie. Of her 16 WTA titles, Elina has won 3 of the Premier 5 level events (winning Rome twice, Dubai, and Toronto). With a game reminiscent of Martina Hingis or Simona Halep, Svitolina climbed to the top and stayed there - and she did it her own way.

When thinking of Elina Svitolina, her fighting mentality on court is impossible to ignore. Not dissimilar from the brave Ukrainian men and women fighting for their right to survive, Elina has a fighting quality about her that never gives up. Her fighting spirit was never more prominent than at last year’s 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She came into Tokyo completely out of form, coming off of a second round loss at Wimbledon. Four of her six matches during her Olympic medal quest were won in a deciding set, spending more than 13 hours on court. She defeated Laura Siegemund, Ajla Tomljanovic, and Maria Sakkari in three set battles before defeating Camila Giorgi comfortably in the quarterfinals. Elina lost to Marketa Vondrousova in the semifinals, and expressed how difficult it was to keep her hope alive for the bronze medal.

“Coming here, for sure my goal was to win a gold medal, and it was extremely tough to lose in the semifinals and then try to regroup…”

Elina faced off against Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina in yet another three-set grinder, but this time for the bronze. It was a historic medal match, as neither Ukraine or Kazakhstan had ever won a tennis medal. After already playing 3 three-setters in her first 3 rounds, Svitolina looked tired and was blown off the court in the first set 1-6. Rybakina was serving like a machine and crushing her groundstrokes. To make matters worse, Elina went down 1-3 in the second set. But the Ukrainian dug her heels in. She went on to win the second set 7-6(5). She also went down 1-4 in the deciding set, but somehow managed to win it 6-4 to take the bronze medal. Facing one of the best servers on tour, the grit Elina showed to fight back from 1-3 in the second set and 1-4 in the third in such a monumental match is just not something we see very often on the WTA Tour. There’s something special about the way she competes. Just like a world-class boxer going round for round in the ring, Svitolina doesn’t give up until the last point is played. This attitude is what has made her such a prominent force at the top of tennis for all these years. When all is said and done, Elina Svitolina will be remembered as a fighter.

Earlier this year, we saw Elina tearfully tell the crowd in Monterrey that she was donating all of her earnings to the Ukrainian army. It was inspiring and heartbreaking all at once. Watching a woman who was 4 months pregnant, playing tennis not just for herself, but to help her country in whatever way she could was just beautiful. If my homeland were being destroyed, I wouldn’t be composed enough to get out of bed, let alone to walk onto a tennis court.

“I was on a mission for my country” she spoke to the cameras with tears in her eyes, clearly addressing many people back home.

Since then, Elina has done countless interviews with the hope of raising as much awareness as possible. She is now one of the ambassadors for United 24, an initiative serving as the main venue for collecting charitable donations for Ukraine. And she also has her own foundation, Elina Svitolina Foundation, which she started 4 years ago to help give young Ukrainian tennis players the opportunity to train and play. The foundation helps keep young tennis players’ dreams alive, and also helps Ukrainian refugees who have been displaced by the Russian invasion. Clearly, caring for people is something Elina does best.

While her focus in life has understandably changed for the time being, she spoke to Olympics.com earlier this year about her hopes to return to tennis. “My goal is to play in the Olympics here in Paris. I’ll try to be 100% ready for it and to do my best, with the hope of bringing another medal home for Ukraine”, she stated. And of course, it must be mentioned that Elina and Gaël Monfils have welcomed a baby girl into their lives, who turned 1 month old on November 15th. In a way, the birth of their baby girl, Skaï, is a beacon of hope and a testament to the fact that life never stops. For every senseless act of violence we hear about on the news, babies are born, bringing new hope with them into this world. Through times of war and times of peace, one thing remains constant - ordinary people are capable of doing extraordinary things. And Elina Svitolina is no exception.