Sixteen months since Elina Svitolina last competed in a grand slam tournament, the Australian Open, life has changed significantly. She is now a mother, having taken maternity leave from the tour before giving birth to her first child, Skaï, with her husband, Gaël Monfils. Her country, Ukraine, has been invaded by Russia. She spent much of her time away from the sport, including during her pregnancy, advocating for her country’s cause.
On the court, however, not too much has changed. Svitolina returned to the French Open with a spectacular performance, dismantling the 26th seed, Martina Trevisan, a semi-finalist last year, 6-2, 6-2 to reach the second round. Trevisan is Svitolina’s first top‑30 win of her comeback.
“Everything is pretty different,” she said. “First, I have a different team right now. I’m a mom right now. So there’s a few things different, and it feels different as well. I’m not a top-10 or top-20 player now. I’m outside of 100, so I’m like top 200 I think after Strasbourg. Also less pressure, I would say, because I’m just gaining, gaining points, and coming back to the level, coming back to the tour. Everything is kind of old and new for me.”
After giving birth to her daughter in October, the 28-year-old returned to the tour at the beginning of the clay season last month. Svitolina looked to find her form by playing a variety of levels, including dropping down to compete in low-level ITF tournaments. Last week, she finally found her way; in her seventh tournament back she won her 17th career WTA title in Strasbourg, defeating the Russian Anna Blinkova in the final. After the win on Saturday, she announced she would donate her winnings to causes in Ukraine.
“I already knew when I was pregnant that I would come back, because I want to do it for myself,” she said. “I have some goals that I want to complete before I retire completely. Of course, for my country, as well, to bring these little moments, for example, winning Strasbourg, starting well here.
“These kind of moments, these little wins, on the level, which is very low, but these moments bring joy to people of Ukraine, to the kids. The kids who loved to play tennis before the war and now maybe they don’t have the opportunity.”
Svitolina, who has reached a career-high No 3 in addition to winning the WTA Finals and four WTA 1000 events, is Ukraine’s most successful player and one of the most prominent Ukrainian athletes in the world. She had discussed her on-court return with a smile but, addressing the recent discussions that have taken place, she firmly implored people within the sport to check their priorities.
“I found that a lot of, I don’t know in a nicer way to say, but a lot of rubbish is happening where we have to focus on what the main point of what is going on, of a lot of people, Ukrainian people, need help and need support. We are focusing on so many things like empty words, empty things that are not helping the situation, not helping anything,” she said.
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“So right now my focus [is that] I want to invite everyone to focus on helping Ukrainians. That’s the main point of this to help kids, to help women who lost their husbands because they are at the war and they are fighting for Ukraine.”
Earlier, the former French Open finalist Sloane Stephens upset the 16th seed, Karolina Pliskova, 6-0, 6-4 to reach the second round. Caroline Garcia, the fifth seed and highest-ranked French singles player, advanced with a 7-6 (4), 4-6, 6-4 victory against Xiyu Wang.