"I have lot of friends on front line fighting for Ukraine, can you imagine them watching me shaking hands like nothing's happening?" - Elina Svitolina
Elina Svitolina, like her compatriots on tour, has not been shaking hands with Russian and Belarusian players for a long time now.
Since the beginning of the Russia-Ukriane war, Ukrainian players such as Svitolina, Marta Kostyuk and Lesia Tsurenko have consistently refused to shake hands with their colleagues from Russian and Belarus. In some instances, the Ukrainian athletes have even been booed for this stance.
Elina Svitolina, who has been quite vocal about the war, shed some light on this issue in a recent interview with Harper's BAZAAR. She expressed her sadness about fans failing to understand the reason behind such a decision, lamenting that it was "frustrating."
Svitolina also said she has a lot of friends who are fighting for her home country on the frontline of the war and claimed that it would be hurtful for them to watch her happily shaking hands of Russian and Belarusian players.
The Ukrainian maintained that she would continue her stance of not interacting with opponents from Russia and Belarus at the net until the war reached a peaceful resolution.
"For me, it is very sad, and very frustrating that people don't understand this," Svitolina said.
"It's a very obvious thing to not shake hands when I have a lot of friends who are on the front line, right now, fighting for Ukraine," she added. "Can you imagine them watching me competing at Wimbledon or any anywhere in the world, shaking hands and acting like nothing's happening?”
The former World No. 3 further said that sometimes it's difficult to keep politics away from sport. She also insisted that as someone representing her country on the global scale, her position has to be clear.
"People need to understand that sometimes you can’t divide politics from sport. They are representing their countries and I am representing mine in front of the world. My position has to be clear," Svitlona added.
"It's a really great feeling but also it comes with responsibility" - Elina Svitolina on representing Ukraine at the global level
In the same interview, Elina Svitolina admitted that while representing her country at the global level was a great feeling, it also came with a level of responsibility.
The past few months have been pretty eventful for the Ukrainian. In October of 2022, she gave birth to her daughter Skai. She then returned to the tour in April 2023.
Just a few months after her materntiy break, Svitolina reached the quarterfinals of the French Open as well as the semifinals at Wimbledon.
Speaking about representing Ukraine at a prestigious tournament like Wimbledon, the 28-year-old said:
"I feel the pressure. I knew a lot of people in Ukraine were watching. It's a really great feeling but also it comes with responsibility, because it feels like you want to win for so many people – for your whole country."
At SW19, Elina Svitolina lost to eventual champion Marketa Vondrousova after stunning World No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals.