It is all dreamlike and surreal for Elina Svitolina. As 2023 began the Ukrainian was not playing tennis and seven months later she defeated World No. 1 in a grand slam as huge as The Wimbledon Championship.
In March 2022, Svitolina thought that taking a break from the sport would be better for her “mental” and “physical” well-being. As she continued to work for and with her fellow Ukrainians while Ukraine was at war with Russia, her life was not made any easier. In an interview, she said, “It’s been an extremely difficult couple of months for me, not only mentally but also physically. For quite a long time I’ve been struggling with my back. The pain didn’t let me prepare for the tournaments at my best.”
Two months later, it was revealed that she and French tennis player Gael Monfils were going to start a family. And she gave birth to her first child in October.
9 months after giving birth, Elina Svitolina is a Grand Slam semifinalist once again 💅 pic.twitter.com/BLYkIQdJAw
— Bastien Fachan (@BastienFachan) July 11, 2023
Svitolina began her training in January in order to come back in form for future challenges that would be more difficult. In April, she participated in the Charleston Open on the WTA tour to resume playing professional tennis.
Defying the odds 💛💙
Relive @ElinaSvitolina‘s remarkable return to the top of the tennis mountain 📈 pic.twitter.com/BnDesqV1Ui
— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) July 11, 2023
Fans all over the world have shared heartwarming reactions,
✅ Elina Svitolina To Win Quarter 1 +2800
Welcome back to the tour 🩷 pic.twitter.com/EmPCM3pBYU
— Dani 🍬 (@danipickznt) July 11, 2023
Centre Court rises for @ElinaSvitolina 🙌
Congratulations on a brilliant Championships, Elina#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/wtQOXty45f
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 13, 2023
Although Elina couldn’t continue on her quest to the finals, she received a heartwarming farewell at the center court after she lost to Marketa Vondrousova in the semi-final.
Career achievements of Elina Svitolina
Elina Svitolina is a Ukrainian professional female tennis player. The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) gave her a career-high singles and doubles ranking of No. 3 and 108, respectively. Svitolina has won 17 singles matches on the WTA Tour and three runner-up finishes.
Svitolina first entered the top 50 in the world in July 2013, rose to the top 20 in June 2015, and finally to the top 10 in May 2017, defeating fellow Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko to become the first Ukrainian woman to do so. Up to 2017, she won five more titles after taking home her first WTA Tour victory in 2013.
She also took home two doubles championships in 2014 and 2015, both from the Istanbul Cup. Svitolina’s performance in major tournaments improved in 2019. She twice advanced to the quarterfinals of the US Open and Wimbledon. Svitolina won the bronze medal in the women’s singles competition at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, making history by being the first Ukrainian athlete to take home an Olympic medal in tennis in 2021.
“I will be rooting for her”@Iga_Swiatek was defeated by @ElinaSvitolina at #Wimbledon 2023, but is backing her to achieve glory 🙏 pic.twitter.com/irXrIhsKue
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 12, 2023
Svitolina took a break from competitive tennis in 2022 to have her first child. After making a successful comeback in 2023, she competed again, earning a WTA Tour championship and making it all the way to the semifinals of both the French Open and Wimbledon (beating world No. 1 Iga Świątek in Wimbledon).