2023-07-13 02:34:50
Elina Svitolina and fellow tennis player Gael Monfils welcomed Skai in October. Eight months later, the player, who turns 29 in September and who had been number three in the world, decided that she was ready to compete again and returned in April. She has not needed a long period of adaptation and in the two big events that she has played, she has signed some of the best performances of her career. At Roland Garros she reached the quarterfinals, stopped by the number two in the world, Sabalenka in a very controversial duel; and at Wimbledon, where she’s playing on a wild card, she’s gone a step further, as she’s contesting the semifinals today against Vondrousova. She is for the second time in her life in the penultimate match at the All England Club. The other was in 2019, when she also got there at the US Open. To reach that round in London, she has eliminated the best player of the moment, the Polish Iga Swiatek, who continues to resist the grass.
Svitolina is part of that group of women who after being a mother returns even stronger. “I feel like I’m 17 years old,” she said at Roland Garros. In her case, there is another event that has brought about an important change in her life: the war that is taking place in her country, Ukraine. “The war made me stronger, also mentally. I no longer see the difficult moments that come to you on a track as catastrophes. I am calmer, there are worse things in life,” she said after reaching the semifinals. She was born in Odesa, one of the cities that is paying the price of the conflict the most. “Of course I want to win and I put pressure on myself, but it’s different. After having a daughter and with the war, I have become a different person. I see things differently,” she insisted.
“The war made me stronger”
Sparks fly every time she has to face a Russian or Belarusian player. At Wimbledon she left Azarenka on the road in the round of 16 and later came to ensure that it was her proudest moment after having had her daughter. “If I play against a Russian or a Belarusian, I feel more pressure that I need to win. That’s why this means so much to me. I want to give this victory to Ukraine,” she said.
On the horizon there is a possible confrontation against another Belarusian, Sabalenka, who was the one who defeated her at Roland Garros in a very hot duel, because the number two in the world waited for Svitolina at the net to shake her hand and the Ukrainian denied her hand. , as he always does when facing opponents of those nationalities. She later said that she had seemed provocative of her because she knew that she was not going to greet her. The WTA has endorsed that attitude of the Ukrainian players for the “reprehensible war in progress”. But for that duel there is still a long way to go, because Svitolina faces Vondrousova and Sabalenka, against the imaginative tennis of Ons Jabeur. The Tunisian faced Rybakina, which meant a repeat of last year’s final, and she managed to come back (6-7 [5/7], 6-4 and 6-1) and take revenge. If the Belarusian manages to sneak into the final, she would be the new number one in the world, even if she lost it.
Women’s draw (semifinals)
Svitolina-Vondrousova (today, 2:30 p.m.) Jabeur-Sabalenka (below) Women’s final (Saturday) 2:30 p.m.
#Svitolina #semifinalist #Wimbledon #months #mother #war #motivation