"All the Ukrainians, we’ve been having roundtables with the WTA, International Tennis Federation, Grand Slams, explaining the help we need, but they chose to go their separate ways" - Elina Svitolina
Ukraine's Elina Svitolina and her partner Gael Monfils are expecting their first child just three months from now. Amidst handling all that pressure, Svitolina is also using every opportunity she gets to raise funds and spread awareness to help those affected by the ongoing war in her country.
Svitolina has not played on the WTA tour since March and has expressed that she now has other priorities in life. She recently opened up about the challenging times facing her and other Ukrainians on the tour since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began in February, revealing that she is very much upset by a lack of support from some of the governing bodies in world tennis.
Svitolina recalled the lengthy discussions Ukrainian players had with the WTA, the ITF, and the Grand Slams regarding the issue, only to be left behind by the organizations to deal with the situation on their own.
However, the 27-year-old was very grateful to the All England Club and Wimbledon for showing staunch support and acting decisively on the matter by banning Russian and Belarusian players from the 2022 edition.
The former World No. 3's criticism was reserved for the WTA and ATP once more, as she did not agree with their decision to remove ranking points from the tournament in response to Wimbledon's decision.
"All the Ukrainians, we’ve been having roundtables with the WTA, the International Tennis Federation, grand slams, explaining the help we need, but they chose to go their separate ways,” Elina Svitolina said in an interview with the Telegraph.
"I was sad to find out they took their position. But I have a lot of respect and want to thank Wimbledon for making players feel supported, as well as Ukraine," she added.
There were talks ahead of Wimbledon that Russian and Belarusian players would have a chance to compete if they publicly condemned the war and the Russian authorities. While that would have been a risky proposition for them, according to experts, Svitolina believes her colleagues could have certainly done more than they did, which would have served to avoid "tension" in the locker room.
“Tennis players are pretty much living outside of Russia, training in Europe and the States. This is their decision. A lot of players didn’t even come to us to ask how our family were doing. It created tension," Elina Svitolina said further.
The 2019 Wimbledon semifinalist also shed more light on the difficulties her fellow citizens have been experiencing over the past few months, such as losing their homes and being constantly worried about their families. Svitolina wants to use the medium of sport to spread an important message across the world, awakening others to the real situation on the ground in her country.
“Our Ukrainian people are dying back home, we lost our homes, we lost our training bases, our families are all in danger. Sport has a great responsibility with a lot of media attention, it helps people to understand what is really going on. This is my mission right now," the former WTA Finals champion expressed.
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President @ZelenskyyUa has announced a new #united24 Ambassador, a famous Ukrainian tennis player @ElinaSvitolina. Together with @jksheva7, they will work in attracting extra support to🇺🇦. twitter.com/APUkraine/stat…
"When the invasion started, it was tough mentally to compete" - Elina Svitolina
Elina Svitolina continued to play for a while after the war began, but admitted to not being able to focus on tennis, and understandably so, as her family was in the midst of a dangerous situation back home in Ukraine. She reached the quarterfinals of the Monterrey Open soon after the invasion, but lost in the first round of both the Indian Wells Open and Miami Open in late March.
“When the invasion started, it was tough mentally to compete and to have my family in Ukraine, it was tough to deal with," she said on the same.
“My priorities and perspective changed. I felt not in the right place when I was playing. It was tough to focus 100 per cent on my job, that’s why I wanted to share my view. But right now I’m happy I could take my time, refocus, find where I’m needed," added Elina Svitolina.
For the last couple of months, Elina Svitolina has been attending various conferences and fundraising events to be able to help her compatriots and their war efforts.
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This weekend, the World No. 42 hosted a charity tennis exhibition in Poland along with World No. 1 Iga Swiatek. All proceeds from the event, which also includes participation from legends such as Agnieszka Radwanska, will go towards helping war-affected children in Ukraine.
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