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Elina Mykhailivna Svitolina ( uk, Еліна Михайлівна Світоліна, ; born 12 September 1994) is a Ukrainian professional
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...
player. She reached career-high rankings of world No. 3 in singles and 108 in doubles. Svitolina has won 16 WTA Tour
The WTA Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125K series, and third-tier is the ITF Women's Circuit. The men's equivalent is the ATP Tour.
WTA Tour tou ...
singles titles and finished runner-up three times.
Svitolina first broke into the world's top 50 in July 2013, reached the top 20 in June 2015, and then the top 10 in May 2017, making her the first Ukrainian woman to reach the top 10 in rankings after surpassing compatriot Alona Bondarenko
Alona Volodymyrivna Bondarenko Dyachok ( uk, Альона Володимирівна Бондаренко; born 13 August 1984) is a Ukrainian former tennis player. Her younger sister Kateryna Bondarenko plays on the WTA Tour.
Her career-high s ...
. After winning her first WTA title in 2013, she won five additional titles until 2017, during which she won five titles that same year, propelling her into the top 10. Among her titles include the 2018 WTA Finals and three of five Premier 5-level tournaments: the Dubai Tennis Championships
The Dubai Tennis Championships or Dubai Open (also known as the ''Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships'' for sponsorship reasons) (formerly known for sponsorship reasons as the ''Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships'' and the ''Dubai Duty Free Men's ...
, the Italian Open Italian Open may refer to:
*Italian Open (tennis), a Masters 1000 level tennis tournament played in Rome each year.
*Italian Open (golf)
The DS Automobiles Italian Open ( it, Open d'Italia) is the men's national open golf championship of Italy. I ...
, and the Canadian Open. She has also won two titles in doubles, both at the İstanbul Cup
The İstanbul Cup is a WTA tennis tournament held in Istanbul, Turkey, organised for professional female tennis players. It is classified as an International-level tournament on the WTA Tour. Held annually since May 2005, it was played on outdoo ...
in 2014 and 2015. Svitolina produced her best performances at a major
Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...
in 2019, having reached her two Grand Slam semifinals at the Wimbledon Championships
The Wimbledon Championships, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world and is widely regarded as the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, All England Club in ...
and the US Open. In 2021, Svitolina won the Olympic bronze medal in the women's singles tournament at the 2020 Summer Olympics
The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July.
Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...
and became the first Olympian to win a medal in tennis for Ukraine.
Early life and background
Svitolina was born inOdesa
Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrative ...
to Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* So ...
parents Mikhaylo Svitolin (a former wrestler
Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat sport ...
) and Olena Svitolina (a former competitive rower
Rowing, sometimes called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars are attached to the boat using oarlocks, while paddles are not connected to the boat. Rowing is ...
). Unusually, she was named after the famous Ukrainian actress Elina Bystritska and also has an older brother, Yulian. As a child, Elina noticed that her brother was getting a lot of attention for playing tennis. This inspired her to take up the sport to regain some of her father's attention. She started playing at age five. Svitolina and her family moved to Kharkiv
Kharkiv ( uk, wikt:Харків, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine. Sapronov had seen her play at one of his children's tournaments when she was 12 and was impressed, leading to his investment in her training and further professional development.I was offered a lot of money to play for other countries, but, luckily, I'm from Ukraine - Svitolina
She began the new season at the
Svitolina began her season at the
Svitolina began her 2017 season with a strong showing in
Svitolina began her 2018 season by capturing the 2018 Brisbane International, Brisbane International title, defeating qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the final. She then competed at the 2018 Australian Open, Australian Open as the fourth seed. She faced qualifier Ivana Jorović and won in straight sets. Against Kateřina Siniaková, Svitolina prevailed in three sets. She then had two straight-sets wins over qualifier and compatriot Marta Kostyuk and
After losing in her opening round at both 2019 Birmingham Classic, Birmingham and 2019 Eastbourne International, Eastbourne, Svitolina proceeded to reach her first Grand Slam semifinal at 2019 Wimbledon Championships, Wimbledon with victories over Daria Gavrilova, Margarita Gasparyan, Maria Sakkari, Petra Martić and Karolína Muchová, becoming the first Ukrainian ever to do so. There, she faced eventual champion Simona Halep and was defeated in two sets.
The North American hardcourt season began for Svitolina at 2019 Silicon Valley Classic, San Jose, where as the top seed, she fell to Maria Sakkari in the quarterfinals. She would then fall to Sofia Kenin in both the quarterfinals of 2019 Rogers Cup, Toronto and the round of 16 at 2019 Western & Southern Open, Cincinnati. Entering the 2019 US Open (tennis), US Open as the No. 5 seed, Svitolina defeated Whitney Osuigwe, Venus Williams, Dayana Yastremska and Madison Keys to reach her first US Open quarterfinal. There, she defeated Johanna Konta in straight sets for a spot in her second successive Grand Slam semifinal. She was then defeated in straight sets by Serena Williams. She subsequently returned to her career-high ranking position of No. 3.
Svitolina reached three consecutive quarterfinals in the season-closing Asian swing, losing to Kristina Mladenovic in 2019 Zhengzhou Open, Zhengzhou, eventual runner-up Alison Riske in 2019 Wuhan Open, Wuhan, and Kiki Bertens in 2019 China Open (tennis), Beijing. Despite failing to reach a final during the season, Svitolina's overall consistency managed to secure her spot as the eighth seed at the WTA Finals in 2019 WTA Finals, Shenzhen for the third successive year. She was drawn into the Purple Group alongside Karolína Plíšková, US Open champion Bianca Andreescu, who was later replaced by Sofia Kenin, and Wimbledon champion Simona Halep. Svitolina topped her group, winning all three matches without dropping a set. Her semifinal match against Belinda Bencic was cut short when Bencic retired with a leg injury down 4–1 in the final set, meaning that Svitolina would advance to the final for the second year in succession, as well as her first final since winning the title in 2018. She failed to defend her title, however, losing in straight sets to Ashleigh Barty. This meant Svitolina failed to win a title during the year for the first time since 2012.
At her first tournament of the year in 2020 Brisbane International – Singles, Brisbane, Svitolina lost in the first round to Danielle Collins in straight sets. At the 2020 Australian Open – Women's singles, Australian Open, Svitolina defeated Katie Boulter and
At the
The Guardian described Svitolina's playing style as "deceptively casual", but being capable of "brilliant displays" when in good form. Svitolina is capable of turning defense into offense when given the chance, and is capable of hitting low-risk winners from defensive positions. Her groundstrokes are very consistent and are hit with moderate power, although she is capable of hitting groundstrokes with significant power when the opportunity arises. Her backhand is her stronger side, especially down the line and on the run, although both her forehand and her backhand penetrate deep into the court. Her second serve is particularly weak and often exploited allowing return winners. She often struggles if playing against someone who is very aggressive and not making many unforced errors on that day. Her first serve speed peaks at , allowing her to serve aces. She has been known to struggle with volleying at the net, but she possesses good reactions, and she can accelerate well across the court to deal with short balls. Her favourite surfaces are grass court, grass and clay court, clay, although she is yet to reach a singles final on grass.
Elina Svitolina at the Tennis Ukraine
Elina Svitolina at the Ukrainian Tennis Portal
Elina Svitolina pictures gallery
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Svitolina, Elina 1994 births Living people Ukrainian female tennis players Sportspeople from Odesa Tennis players at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' singles French Open junior champions Tennis players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic tennis players of Ukraine Hopman Cup competitors Tennis players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in tennis Olympic bronze medalists for Ukraine
Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...
(31 July 2017)
Svitolina officially still resides in Kharkiv but trains abroad, which limits her presence in Odesa and/or Kharkiv, and also has a residence in London. She has said that in her early career she turned down offers to change her citizenship in exchange for "large financial sums". Svitolina has been actively learning the Ukrainian language
Ukrainian ( uk, украї́нська мо́ва, translit=ukrainska mova, label=native name, ) is an East Slavic language of the Indo-European language family. It is the native language of about 40 million people and the official state langu ...
since the COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
quarantine at the 2021 Australian Open
The 2021 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park, on 8–21 February 2021. It was the 109th edition of the Australian Open, the 53rd in the Open Era, and the first Major tournament of the year. It was ...
. In January 2022, she promised to master the language in the course of her interview with Dmitry Gordon
Dmitry Ilyich Gordon ( uk, Дмитро Ілліч Гордон, Dmytro Illich Hordon, russian: Дмитрий Ильич Гордон; born October 21, 1967) is a Ukrainian journalist, interviewer, politician and singer. He is also the editor- ...
.
Career
Early career
Svitolina's greatest achievement as a junior was winning theFrench Open
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...
girls event in 2010, beating Tunisian Ons Jabeur
Ons Jabeur ( ar, أُنْس جَابِر, ʾUns Jābir, ; born 28 August 1994) is a Tunisian professional tennis player. She has a career high Women's Tennis Association (WTA) ranking of world No. 2 achieved on 27 June 2022. Jabeur is the curr ...
in the final. She reached her first professional singles final at the $25k tournament in Kharkiv
Kharkiv ( uk, wikt:Харків, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine.2012 Wimbledon Championships
The 2012 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 126th edition of the The Championships, Wimbledon, Wimbledon C ...
, where she lost to Eugenie Bouchard
Eugenie "Genie" Bouchard (; french: Eugénie Bouchard, ; born February 25, 1994) is a Canadian tennis player. At the 2014 Wimbledon Championships, she became the first Canadian-born player representing Canada to reach the final of a Grand Slam t ...
. Svitolina qualified for the US Open. She was defeated in the first round by 12th seed and eventual quarterfinalist Ana Ivanovic
Ana Schweinsteiger ( sr, Ана Швајнштајгер / ''Ana Švajnštajger''; born 6 November 1987), professionally known by her birth name Ana Ivanovic (Ана Ивановић / ''Ana Ivanović'', ), is a Serbian former world No. 1 tenn ...
. She won the WTA 125
WTA 125 tournaments are an international series of professional women's tennis tournaments organized by the Women's Tennis Association since 2012.
In the past (2012–2015) sometimes called the WTA Challenger seriesRoyal Indian Open
The Royal Indian Open is a tournament organized for female professional tennis players, played on outdoor hard courts. The event is classified as a WTA Challenger Series tournament. It made its debut in 2012, in Pune, India. It is played at t ...
title in Pune
Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...
, defeating Andreja Klepač
Andreja Klepač (born 13 March 1986) is a professional Slovenian tennis player. On 14 July 2008, Klepač reached her career-high singles rankings of world No. 99. On 11 April 2022, she peaked at No. 11 in the WTA doubles rankings.
Career
She ha ...
, Rutuja Bhosale
Rutuja Sampatrao Bhosale (born 27 March 1996) is an Indian tennis player.
She made her debut for India Fed Cup team in 2012, the same year, she achieved her highest junior ranking of world No. 55.
Bhosale, the former Indian number one in th ...
, Luksika Kumkhum
Luksika "Luk" Kumkhum ( th, ลักษิกา คำขำ; ; born 21 July 1993) is a Thai tennis player. She turned professional in 2011, and reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 66 on 19 November 2018. On 16 July 2018, she ...
, former top-10 player Andrea Petkovic
Andrea Petkovic (, ; born 9 September 1987) is a German former professional tennis player. Born in Tuzla, SFR Yugoslavia, to Serbian father Zoran and Bosniak mother Amira, she moved to Germany at six months old and turned professional in 2006 a ...
, and Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm
is a Japanese former professional tennis player. She reached the semifinals of the 1994 Australian Open, the 1995 French Open and the 1996 Wimbledon Championships, and won the Japan Open a record four times. She reached a career-high ranking ...
in the final.
2013: First WTA title
Svitolina gained direct entry into theAustralian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...
, where she was defeated by fifth seed Angelique Kerber
Angelique Kerber (; born 18 January 1988) is a German professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 1, for a total of 34 weeks, and won three major titles at the 2016 Australian Open, the 2016 US Open, and the 2018 Wim ...
in the first round. She won her first WTA title at the Baku Cup
The Baku Cup was a professional women's tennis tournament held in Baku, Azerbaijan. It made its debut on the 2011 WTA Tour and as one of the international tier of events. This WTA Tour event is an international tournament and was played at the B ...
by beating Shahar Pe'er
Shahar Pe'er ( he, שחר פאר, ; born ) is an Israeli retired tennis player.
Pe'er won five singles and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as four singles and three doubles titles on the ITF circuit in her career. She reached ...
; in doing so, Svitolina became the first teenager to win a WTA tournament since February 2012.Elina Svitolina picks up first WTA title at Baku CupUnited Press International
United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th ...
(28 July 2013) The victory led to a jump of 32 spots in the WTA rankings, landing her at No. 49 on 29 July 2013.
2014: Ascent, second WTA Tour title
At theAustralian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...
, Svitolina defeated two-time Grand Slam champion and three-time Australian Open quarterfinalist Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova (born 27 June 1985) is a Russian inactive professional tennis player. She is a two-time major singles champion, winning the 2004 US Open and 2009 French Open, and finishing runner-up at two other majors. I ...
in the opening round in straight sets. She went on to reach the third round, losing to Sloane Stephens
Sloane Stephens (born March 20, 1993) is an American professional tennis player. She achieved a career-best ranking of world No. 3 after Wimbledon in 2018. Stephens was the 2017 US Open champion, and has won seven WTA Tour singles titles in t ...
in straight sets.
After defending her Baku Cup title by beating Bojana Jovanovski Bojana may refer to
Places
* Bojana (river), a river in Albania and Montenegro
* Ada Bojana / Bojana Island
Name
* Bojana (given name), a Slavic given name
* People
** Bojana Atanasovska
** Bojana Bobusic
** Bojana Jovanovski
** Bojana Novakovic
* ...
in the final, Svitolina played at the Western & Southern Open where she recorded the first top-ten victory of her career, defeating recently crowned Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
champion Petra Kvitová
Petra Kvitová, OLY ( , ; born 8 March 1990) is a Czech professional tennis player. Known for her powerful left-handed groundstrokes and variety, Kvitová has won 29 career singles titles, including two major titles at Wimbledon in 2011 and i ...
in the second round. She proceeded to reach her first quarterfinal at Premier-5 level, eventually losing to Ana Ivanovic in straight sets.
Svitolina reached her first Premier-5 semifinal in the first edition of the WTA tournament in Wuhan
Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei, Hubei Province in the China, People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the List of cities in China ...
, defeating Camila Giorgi
Camila Giorgi (; born 30 December 1991) is an Italian professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 26, achieved on 22 October 2018. She is the current Italian No. 2, after Martina Trevisan.
After winning her fi ...
, Sabine Lisicki
Sabine Katharina Lisicki (; born 22 September 1989) is a German professional tennis player.
Lisicki turned professional in 2006, and her breakthrough came in 2009 when she reached the quarterfinals of the Wimbledon Championships, and also won h ...
, Garbiñe Muguruza
Garbiñe Muguruza Blanco (; born 8 October 1993) is a Spanish-Venezuelan professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 1 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), and a career-high doubles ranking of world No. ...
via walkover, and Angelique Kerber before losing to Petra Kvitová in the semifinals.
2015: First Grand Slam quarterfinal, world No. 15
She began the new season at the Brisbane International
The Brisbane International established in 2009 is a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor hardcourts in Brisbane, Queensland in Australia. It is a WTA Premier tournament of the WTA Tour and was part of the ATP World Tour 250 seri ...
where she reached the semifinals before losing to eventual champion Maria Sharapova
Maria Yuryevna Sharapova ( , ; rus, Мари́я Ю́рьевна Шара́пова, p=mɐˈrʲijə ʂɐˈrapəvə, a=Maria_sharapova.ogg; born 19 April 1987) is a Russian former List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 ...
. At the Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...
, Svitolina reached the third round, and won the first set against world No. 1 and eventual champion, Serena Williams, before losing in three sets. She fell in the second round in both Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...
and Doha
Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...
, losing in tight three-set matches to Petra Kvitová and Victoria Azarenka
Victória Fyódarauna Azárenka ( be, Вікторыя Фёдараўна Азаранка; Russian: Виктория Фёдоровна Азаренко; born 31 July 1989) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. Azarenka is a former wo ...
, respectively.
As the 23rd seed in Indian Wells, she defeated Alison Van Uytvanck
Alison Van Uytvanck (; born 26 March 1994) is a Belgian professional tennis player.
Van Uytvanck has won five singles and two doubles WTA Tour titles and three Challenger Tour singles titles, as well as 12 singles and two doubles titles on th ...
and Lucie Šafářová
Lucie Šafářová (; born 4 February 1987) is a Czech former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles, and No. 5 in singles.
She is a five-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having won the 2015 Australian Open, 2015 ...
, before losing in the fourth round to Timea Bacsinszky
Timea Bacsinszky ( hu, Bacsinszky Tímea; born 8 June 1989) is a Swiss former professional tennis player who won four singles titles and five doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as 13 singles and 14 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. A for ...
. The following week in Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
, she defeated Bojana Jovanovski before losing in the third round to the eighth seed Ekaterina Makarova
Ekaterina Valeryevna Makarova ( rus, Екатери́на Вале́рьевна Мака́рова; ; born 7 June 1988) is a Russian former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles, and world No. 8 in singles.
She ...
. As the top seed at a tournament for the first time in Bogotá
Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...
, Svitolina reached the semifinals, defeating Louisa Chirico
Louisa Chirico (born May 16, 1996) is an American tennis player. She is of Korean descent through her mother.
Chirico, who comes from Harrison, New York, has won five singles and two doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 24 October 2016 ...
, Danka Kovinić
Danka Kovinić ( cnr, Данка Ковинић; born 18 November 1994) is a Montenegrin professional tennis player.
On 22 February 2016, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 46, and on 20 June 2016, she peaked at No. 67 in th ...
and Irina Falconi
Irina Falconi ( es, Falconí; born May 4, 1990) is an Ecuadorian-born American former tennis player. She moved to Manhattan, New York, as a toddler.
Her highest WTA singles ranking is world No. 63, which she reached in May 2016. Her career-high ...
, before losing to eventual champion Teliana Pereira
Teliana Santos Pereira (born 20 July 1988) is a Brazilian former professional tennis player.
On 19 April 2015, she became the first Brazilian in 27 years to win a title on the WTA Tour, beating Yaroslava Shvedova in Bogotá 7–6, 6–1. She ...
.
She continued her successful start to the clay-court season by winning her third career title and first on clay in Marrakech
Marrakesh or Marrakech ( or ; ar, مراكش, murrākuš, ; ber, ⵎⵕⵕⴰⴽⵛ, translit=mṛṛakc}) is the fourth largest city in the Kingdom of Morocco. It is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakes ...
, recovering from 2–5 down in the opening set to defeat Tímea Babos
Tímea Babos (; born 10 May 1993) is a Hungarian professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles.
She is a four-time Grand Slam champion in women's doubles, having won the 2018 and 2020 Australian Opens, as well as the Fre ...
, in straight sets. The victory propelled her to a career high ranking of 21. She also reached the semifinals in doubles with compatriot Olga Savchuk
Olga Mykolayivna Savchuk ( uk, Ольга Миколаївна Савчук; born 20 September 1987) is a retired tennis player from Ukraine. Savchuk grew up in the city of Makiyivka in Donetsk province. She resides in Nassau, Bahamas.
Her best ...
. The following week in Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
, after easily dispatching Daniela Hantuchová
Daniela Hantuchová (; born 23 April 1983) is a Slovak tennis commentator and retired player. She turned professional in 1999 and had her breakthrough year in 2002, when she won her first WTA Tour title at the Indian Wells Masters, defeating Mar ...
, Svitolina lost to Ana Ivanovic for the sixth time in her career. A similar scenario occurred in Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, where she defeated Flavia Pennetta
Flavia Pennetta (; born 25 February 1982) is an Italian former professional tennis player. She became Italy's first top-ten female singles player on 17 August 2009 and the first Italian to be ranked world No. 1 in doubles, on 28 February 2011. ...
in straight sets before losing to Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American professional tennis player. A former world No. 1 in both singles and doubles, Williams has won seven Grand Slam singles titles, five at Wimbledon and two at the US Open. She is ...
.
At the French Open
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...
, after comfortably seeing off Yanina Wickmayer
Yanina Wickmayer (born 20 October 1989) is a Belgian professional tennis player. She reached the semifinals at the 2009 US Open, and a career-high WTA ranking of world No. 12, on 19 April 2010. In doubles, she achieved a career-high of world No. ...
in her opening match, Svitolina had to recover from 0–3 in the second set and 1–4 in the final set to beat Yulia Putintseva
Yulia Antonovna Putintseva ( rus, Ю́лия Анто́новна Пути́нцева; , ''puh-TEEN-tseh-vah''; born 7 January 1995) is a Russian-born Kazakhstani professional tennis player. She is a three-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist (twic ...
in a match that lasted over three hours. Another tight three-set victory ensued in the third round against Annika Beck
Annika Beck (; born 16 February 1994) is a German former professional tennis player. She started playing tennis at the age of four when introduced to the game by her parents. A baseliner whose favorite shot is forehand, and favorite surface is ...
, before Svitolina defeated Alizé Cornet
Alizé Cornet (; born 22 January 1990) is a French professional tennis player. Cornet has won six singles and three doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as three singles and three doubles titles on the ITF Women's World Tennis Tour, ITF Circu ...
in a rain-interrupted fourth-round encounter to set up a maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal against seventh seed Ana Ivanovic, which she lost in straight sets. Svitolina rose to No. 17 after this tournament, surpassing Alona Bondarenko
Alona Volodymyrivna Bondarenko Dyachok ( uk, Альона Володимирівна Бондаренко; born 13 August 1984) is a Ukrainian former tennis player. Her younger sister Kateryna Bondarenko plays on the WTA Tour.
Her career-high s ...
as the highest-ranked Ukrainian woman in the Open Era, including women from Ukraine who played under the Soviet Union.
Svitolina's grass-court season was significantly less successful, losing in three sets in the second round of Eastbourne
Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...
to Heather Watson
Heather Miriam Watson (born 19 May 1992) is a British professional tennis player. A former British No. 1, Watson has won nine titles over her career, including the mixed-doubles title at the 2016 Wimbledon Championships partnering Henri K ...
. As the 17th seed at Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
, she came from a set down to beat Misaki Doi
is a Japanese professional tennis player. Her highest WTA rankings are No. 30 in singles and No. 77 in doubles.
Doi reached two junior Grand Slam doubles finals – at Wimbledon in 2007 with Kurumi Nara, and at the Australian Open in 2008, w ...
, who had beaten her at the same stage the previous year, before again losing in the second round to Australian Casey Dellacqua
Casey Dellacqua ( ; born 11 February 1985) is a retired Australian professional tennis player and current commentator. Her best singles results on the WTA Tour have been semifinal appearances at the 2012 Texas Tennis Open and 2014 Birmingham ...
. Despite losing in the first round of İstanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
to Magdaléna Rybáriková
Magdaléna Rybáriková (; born 4 October 1988) is a retired Slovak tennis player. In her career, she won four singles titles and one doubles title on the WTA Tour. Rybáriková reached the semifinals of the 2017 Wimbledon Championships and bro ...
, Svitolina successfully defended her doubles title from the previous year, this time partnering Daria Gavrilova
Daria Saville (née Gavrilova, born 5 March 1994) is an Australian professional tennis player. She represented Russia until 2015, before emigrating to Australia. She competed under her maiden name until her marriage to Luke Saville in 20 ...
.
She began U.S. hardcourt season with a run to the semifinals in Stanford
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...
, losing in straight sets to eventual champion Angelique Kerber. At the Rogers Cup
The Canadian Open (french: Tournoi de tennis du Canada), also known as the Canada Masters, and currently branded as the National Bank Open presented by Rogers for sponsorship reasons, is an annual tennis tournament held in Ontario and Quebec. T ...
, Svitolina lost in the first round to Victoria Azarenka. She bettered her performance from the previous year in Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
, defeating Alison Riske
Alison Riske-Amritraj (née Riske; born July 3, 1990) is an American professional tennis player. She reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 18 in November 2019 and won her first WTA Tour title in October 2014 at the Tianjin Open.
...
, Eugenie Bouchard and Caroline Garcia
Caroline Garcia (, born 16 October 1993) is a French professional tennis player. She has been ranked in the top 5 in both singles at world No. 4 and in doubles at world No. 2. Garcia is the 2022 WTA Finals singles champion.
She is also a two-ti ...
to reach the quarterfinals, before defeating Lucie Šafářová for the second time this year to progress to her second Premier-5 semifinal, where she lost to Serena Williams. Svitolina concluded her warm up for the US Open in New Haven
New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...
, where she retired from her first-round match against Madison Keys
Madison Keys (born February 17, 1995) is an American professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 7 by the Women's Tennis Association
The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) is the principal organizing body of women's ...
. She progressed to the third round of the US Open, defeating Elizaveta Kulichkova
Elizaveta Dmitrievna Kulichkova (russian: Елизавета Дмитриевна Куличкова; born 12 April 1996) is a Russian former tennis player. She competed for her last pro match at the 2017 US Open
In her career, she won seven si ...
and Kaia Kanepi
Kaia Kanepi (; born 10 June 1985) is an Estonian professional tennis player. She achieved her career-high ranking of world No. 15 on 20 August 2012 and has won four singles titles on the WTA Tour.
Described as a 'resident Grand Slam upset spec ...
, before losing to 13th seed Ekaterina Makarova for the third time this year.
The Asian hardcourt swing began in Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
for Svitolina, where she lost in the second round to eventual champion Agnieszka Radwańska
Agnieszka Roma Radwańska (; born 6 March 1989) is a Polish former professional tennis player. She won 20 career singles WTA Tour titles, two doubles titles, and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 2 on 9 July 2012. Her achievem ...
. Svitolina failed to repeat her success from the previous year in Wuhan
Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei, Hubei Province in the China, People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the List of cities in China ...
, losing in the third round to Karolína Plíšková
Karolína Hrdličková ( née Plíšková; ; born 21 March 1992) is a Czech professional tennis player. She is a former world No. 1 in singles, reaching the top of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) rankings on 17 July 2017 and holding the pos ...
. Similarly disappointing results ensued for Svitolina, losing in the second round of Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Anastasia Sergeyevna "Nastia" Pavlyuchenkova (russian: Анастаси́я "Настя" Серге́евна Павлюче́нкова; born 3 July 1991) is an inactive Russian professional tennis player. A junior prodigy, Pavlyuchenkova won ...
, and the first round of Tianjin
Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...
to Elena Vesnina
Elena Sergeyevna Vesnina (born 1 August 1986) is a Russian former professional tennis player and a former world No. 1 in doubles.
She is a four-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2013 French Open, 2014 US Open, and 2017 Wimbledon Cha ...
.
Despite this disappointing end to her season, Svitolina's consistency throughout the year earned her a spot as the eighth seed at the inaugural WTA Elite Trophy
The WTA Elite Trophy is the second-tier year-end professional women's tennis tournament on the WTA Tour. It is the successor event of the different format WTA Tournament of Champions, which took place from 2009–14.
The Elite Trophy takes place ...
in Zhuhai. She was drawn into Group B with second seed Carla Suárez Navarro
Carla Suárez Navarro (; born 3 September 1988, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. A former top 10 singles player, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 6 on 29 February 2016, and a be ...
and Andrea Petkovic. Svitolina topped the group by winning both her matches, advancing to the semifinals where she lost to Karolína Plíšková. Her last match of the season was against Pauline Parmentier
Pauline Parmentier (; born 31 January 1986) is a French former tennis player.
Her career-high WTA rankings, WTA singles ranking is world No. 40, which she attained on 21 July 2008. On 30 April 2012, she peaked at world No. 89 on the WTA doubles ...
in the first round of the WTA 125 tournament in Limoges
Limoges (, , ; oc, Lemòtges, locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region ...
, which she lost on a final-set tiebreak.
2016: Olympic quarterfinal
Svitolina began her season at the Hopman Cup
The Hopman Cup is an international eight-team indoor hardcourt tennis tournament that played mixed-gender teams on a country-by-country basis.It was held in Perth, Western Australia each year from 1989 to 2019, before being replaced on the calen ...
, representing Ukraine with Alexandr Dolgopolov
Alexandr Oleksandrovych Dolgopolov (born 7 November 1988), formerly known as Oleksandr Dolgopolov Jr., is a Ukrainian retired professional tennis player. He changed his forename spelling to the current form in May 2010. Dolgopolov reached the ...
. She was undefeated in her singles matches in the round-robin stage, defeating Victoria Duval
Victoria Duval (born 30 November 1995) is an American professional tennis player.
Duval has won one singles title and two doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. In August 2014, she reached her best singles ranking of No. 87. In 2012, she won ...
, Karolína Plíšková, and Jarmila Wolfe
Jarmila Wolfe (née Gajdošová, formerly Groth; born 26 April 1987) is a Slovak-Australian former tennis player.
In her career, she won two singles titles and one doubles title on the WTA Tour, as well as 14 singles and ten doubles titles on ...
. Svitolina and Dolgopolov were the winners of their group, and advanced to the final, where the Australian pairing of Nick Kyrgios
Nicholas Hilmy Kyrgios ( ; born 27 April 1995) is an Australian professional tennis player. In singles, Kyrgios' career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 13 was achieved on 24 October 2016. He has won seven ATP Tour singles titles, includin ...
and Daria Gavrilova defeated them 2–0, with Svitolina losing her singles match in straight sets. At the Sydney International, Svitolina lost in the first round to Angelique Kerber. In Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, she defeated Victoria Duval in straight sets, before losing to qualifier Naomi Osaka
is a Japanese professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and is the first Asian player to hold the top ranking in singles. Osaka is a four-time Grand Slam singles champio ...
in the second round.
In her first tournament with Justine Henin acting as a coaching consultant, Svitolina advanced to the semifinals in Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...
, defeating qualifier Jana Čepelová
Jana Čepelová (; born 29 May 1993) is an inactive Slovak tennis player.
She has won seven singles titles and three doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 12 May 2014, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 50. On 18 May 2015, she p ...
, earning her first top-10 win of the year over second seed Garbiñe Muguruza, and battling past CoCo Vandeweghe
Colleen "CoCo" Vandeweghe ( ) (born Colleen Mullarkey; December 6, 1991) is an American professional tennis player. A former Junior US Open champion and top 10 singles player, she has also won two WTA titles, both at the Rosmalen Grass Court C ...
in three sets, before losing to eventual champion Sara Errani
Sara Errani (; born 29 April 1987) is an Italian professional tennis player. She is a former top five player in singles and former world No. 1 in doubles. With 9 singles titles and 27 doubles titles (including 5 Grand Slam doubles championship ...
. Svitolina subsequently lost in the first round in Doha
Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...
to Denisa Allertová Denisa is a feminine given name, equivalent to English '' Denise'', used in various European languages, particularly in Albanian, Croatian, Czech, Romanian, Slovak and Slovenian. Notable people with the name include:
* Denisa Chládková
* Denisa D ...
.
Her next tournament was the Malaysian Open where she defeated Miyu Kato, Risa Ozaki
is a former professional Japanese tennis player.
In her career, Ozaki won six singles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 24 April 2017, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 70. On 6 March 2017, she peaked at No. 246 in the WTA ...
, Kristína Kučová
Kristína Kučová (; born 23 May 1990) is a Slovak tennis player. On 12 September 2016, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 71. On 5 October 2009, she peaked at No. 168 in the WTA doubles rankings.
She has won one singles title on ...
, and Zhu Lin en route to the final where she beat a resurgent Eugenie Bouchard in a rain-interrupted marathon to win her fourth WTA title. This victory saw her maintain her perfect record in WTA finals, as well as improving her ranking to a career high of 14.
At the Indian Wells Open
The Indian Wells Masters, also known as the Indian Wells Open and BNP Paribas Open is an annual tennis tournament usually held in early- and mid-March at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California, United States. The owner is La ...
, 17th-seed Svitolina defeated Annika Beck, before losing in straight sets to ninth-seed Roberta Vinci
Roberta Vinci (; born 18 February 1983) is an Italian professional padel and former tennis player. In doubles tennis, she won five major tournaments and reached the world No. 1 position. She also reached a career-high ranking of world No. 7 in ...
. Then, in Miami, after defeating Australian Open quarterfinalist Zhang Shuai
Zhang Shuai (; ; born 21 January 1989) is a Chinese professional tennis player.
She is a two-time Grand Slam champion in women's doubles, having won the 2019 Australian Open and the 2021 US Open, both alongside Samantha Stosur. Zhang also ...
, Svitolina scored one of the biggest victories of her career, coming from a break down in the third set to defeat former WTA No. 1, Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki (; born 11 July 1990) is a Danish former professional tennis player. She was ranked world No. 1 in singles for a total of 71 weeks, including at the end of 2010 and 2011. She achieved the top ranking for the first time on 11 ...
, in three sets in the third round. Svitolina subsequently lost in the fourth round to Ekaterina Makarova, who beat her at the same tournament the prior year.
Svitolina began her clay-court season with a disappointing first-round loss to Alexandra Panova
Alexandra Alexandrovna Panova (russian: Александра Александровна Панова; born 2 March 1989) is a Russian professional tennis player.
On 30 July 2012, she achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 71. On 18 ...
in Bogotá
Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...
, followed by a second-round loss to Daria Gavrilova in Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
, and a first-round loss to qualifier Monica Puig
Monica Puig Marchán, (born September 27, 1993) is a Puerto Rican former professional tennis player. She is the first Puerto Rican in history to win a gold medal at the Olympics while representing Puerto Rico, having done so in 2016 at the ...
in Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
. Entering the French Open
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...
in poor form, Svitolina beat Romanian qualifier Sorana Cîrstea
Sorana Mihaela Cîrstea (; born 7 April 1990) is a Romanian professional tennis player. In singles, she achieved a career-high ranking of world No. 21 on 12 August 2013. In doubles, her career-high ranking is No. 35, which she reached on 9 March ...
and wildcard Taylor Townsend
Taylor Townsend (born April 16, 1996) is an American professional tennis player. She reached career-high WTA rankings of world No. 61 in singles (July 2018) and No. 31 in doubles (December 2022). She also reached the doubles final of the 2022 ...
before beating nemesis and former world No. 1, Ana Ivanovic, in straight sets. She then lost in the fourth round to world No. 1, defending champion, and eventual finalist Serena Williams.
In Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
, she lost in the first round to Carla Suárez Navarro. At Wimbledon, she beat Naomi Broady
Naomi Broady (; born 28 February 1990) is a British tennis player.
She has won one WTA doubles title, as well as nine singles titles and 20 doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. On 7 March 2016, she reached her best singles ranking of wor ...
in straight sets before being upset by Yaroslava Shvedova
Yaroslava Vyacheslavovna Shvedova (; born 12 September 1987) is a Kazakhstani former professional tennis player. Before 2008, she represented her country of birth, Russia.
She won one singles title and 13 doubles titles on the WTA Tour, plus o ...
.
At the Rio Olympics
)
, nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams)
, athletes = 11,238
, events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines)
, opening = 5 August 2016
, closing = 21 August 2016
, opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer
, cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro d ...
, Svitolina scored her first win over defending champion and then-world No. 1, Serena Williams, in the third round to reach the quarterfinals, defeating the out-of-sorts American in straight sets. Svitolina failed to follow up her landmark victory in the next round, however, losing to eventual bronze medalist Petra Kvitová.
American hardcourt season began with a run to the third round of Montréal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-p ...
, losing to Angelique Kerber. After a disappointing early loss to Daria Gavrilova in Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
, she rebounded at New Haven
New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...
, reaching the final before losing to Agnieszka Radwańska. At the US Open, Svitolina reached the third round for the second consecutive year with wins over Mandy Minella
Mandy Minella (born 22 November 1985) is a former professional tennis player from Luxembourg. Having made her debut on the WTA Tour in 2001, she peaked at No. 66 in the WTA singles rankings in September 2012, and No. 47 in doubles in April 2013 ...
and Lauren Davis
Lauren Davis (born October 9, 1993) is an American professional tennis player. Known for her aggressive backhand, speed, and clay-court strength, she won her first title on the WTA Tour at the Auckland Open and reached a career-high singles ra ...
, but she lost to Petra Kvitová once again.
The Asian swing proved to be fruitful for Svitolina, reaching the semifinals of both Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
, where she was defeated by Naomi Osaka, and Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
, her first semifinal at Premier-Mandatory level, losing to eventual champion Agnieszka Radwańska. As a result, her ranking was propelled back up to 15, one place shy of her career high, and guaranteed her a place in Zhuhai
Zhuhai (, ; Yale: ''Jyūhói''), also known as Chuhai is a prefecture-level city located on the west bank of Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern Guangdong province, People's Republic of China, on the southeastern edge of Pearl ...
for the second year running. Her good form continued at the last Premier event of the season in Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
, where she reached the semifinals, her third in four tournaments, before bowing out to eventual champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Svitolina concluded her season as the fourth seed in Zhuhai. She topped her group by defeating Kiki Bertens
Kiki Bertens (; born 10 December 1991) is a Dutch former professional tennis player. Her career-high WTA singles ranking was world No. 4, which she reached on 13 May 2019, becoming the highest ranked Dutch female player ever.
Her career-high do ...
and Elena Vesnina, and then came from a set down to defeat top seed Johanna Konta
Johanna Konta (born 17 May 1991) is a British former professional tennis player, having represented Australia until 2012. She won four singles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as 11 singles and four doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. The ...
in the semifinals to advance to her third final of the year, where she lost to Kvitová. Svitolina finished the season ranked 14th, with an impressive 13–5 win–loss record following the US Open.
2017: Three Premier 5 titles, world No. 3
Svitolina began her 2017 season with a strong showing in Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
, defeating world No. 1, Angelique Kerber, in the quarterfinals, before losing to eventual champion Karolína Plíšková in the following round. The victory over Kerber signified her third win over a number-one-ranked player in five months. Svitolina was seeded 11th at the Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...
, her highest seeding to date. She equalled her best showing in Melbourne, reaching the third round with victories over Galina Voskoboeva
Galina Olegovna Voskoboeva (russian: Галина Олеговна Воскобоева; born 18 December 1984) is a professional Russian-born Kazakhstani tennis player. She reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 42 on 7 May 2012. He ...
and Julia Boserup
Julia Boserup (born September 9, 1991) is an American retired tennis player of Danish descent.
Boserup began playing tennis at age six, after her mother, a native of Denmark, enrolled her in group tennis lessons. She was home schooled in high s ...
, before losing to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Svitolina won her fifth career title at the Taiwan Open, fending off four match points in her quarterfinal encounter with Ons Jabeur, before defeating Peng Shuai in the final. Svitolina next competed in Ukraine's Fed Cup
The Billie Jean King Cup (or the BJK Cup) is the premier international team competition in women's tennis, launched as the Federation Cup in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The name was cha ...
tie against Australia, where she won both of her singles rubbers to help Ukraine set up a play-off against Germany. Svitolina continued her strong start to the season in Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...
, where she defeated Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets in the final to capture her first title at Premier 5-level. This win propelled her into the WTA top 10 for the first time in her career, making her the first Ukrainian ever to do so. Svitolina failed to carry her momentum into the American hard-court swing, losing in the fourth round of Indian Wells to Garbiñe Muguruza, and the second round of Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
to Bethanie Mattek-Sands
Bethanie Mattek-Sands ( Bethanie Lynn Mattek; born March 23, 1985) is an American professional tennis player. She has won nine Grand Slam titles (five in women's doubles and four in mixed doubles), and an Olympic gold medal, and is a former wo ...
.
She began the clay-court season by capturing her third title of the year in İstanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
. Rebounding from a disappointing loss to Zheng Saisai
Zheng Saisai or Zheng Sai-Sai (; born February 5, 1994) is a Chinese tennis player. She won one WTA singles title (at the Premier level 2019 Silicon Valley Classic), five WTA doubles titles, and reached the final of the 2019 French Open in doub ...
in the first round of Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
, Svitolina then proceeded to reach her second Premier-5-level final of the year, and fourth overall, in Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
. After defeating two top-5 players en route in Karolína Plíšková and Garbiñe Muguruza, she faced off against Simona Halep
Simona Halep (; born 27 September 1991) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles twice between 2017 and 2019, for a total of 64 weeks, which ranks eleventh in the history of the Women's Tennis Assoc ...
, whom she defeated in three sets to claim the title. The win propelled her to a career high of No. 6 in the singles rankings, as well as to the top spot in the Race to Singapore. She then started her campaign at the French Open
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...
as one of the favourites to win the tournament. Svitolina progressed through her first three matches with relative ease, defeating Yaroslava Shvedova, Tsvetana Pironkova
Tsvetana Kirilova Pironkova ( bg, Цветана Кирилова Пиронкова ; born 13 September 1987) is a Bulgarian professional tennis player. Considered to be one of the best grass court players of her generation, she has been not ...
and Magda Linette
Magda Linette (born 12 February 1992) is a Polish professional tennis player. Having made her tour debut in 2009, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 33 in February 2020. Linette has reached five finals on the WTA Tour, winning ...
respectively. Svitolina then overcame qualifier Petra Martić
Petra Martić (; born 19 January 1991) is a Croatian professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 14, achieved in January 2020. Martić has won two singles titles on the WTA Tour, one singles and one doubles tou ...
in a tight three set encounter to advance to her second major quarterfinal. She faced Simona Halep in a rematch of the Italian Open final. Svitolina led by a set and 5–1 and held a match point against the 2014 finalist, but lost in three sets (the third set at love).
At Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
, she surpassed her previous performances by reaching the fourth round, defeating Birmingham finalist and potential dark horse Ashleigh Barty
Ashleigh is the feminine form of the Old English name Ashley (given name), Ashley, which means "dweller near the ash tree forest". It is most common in the United States and United Kingdom.
Notable people
B
*Ashleigh Ball (born 1983), Canadian ...
in the first round. She then eased past Francesca Schiavone
Francesca Schiavone (; born 23 June 1980) is an Italian former professional tennis player. She turned professional in 1998 and won the 2010 French Open singles title, becoming the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam event in singles. She wa ...
and Carina Witthöft
Carina Witthöft (also spelled Witthoeft, born 16 February 1995) is an inactive German professional tennis player. She has won one singles title on the WTA Tour whereas on the ITF Women's Circuit, she has won eleven singles titles and one doubles ...
, before bowing out to 13th seed and French Open champion Jeļena Ostapenko
Jeļena Ostapenko (born 8 June 1997), also known as Aļona Ostapenko, is a Latvian professional tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of world No. 5 in singles, achieved on 19 March 2018, and world No. 9 in doubles, reached on 22 Augus ...
in straight sets.
Her fifth title of the year, and third successive at Premier 5-level, came in Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
, where she defeated four top-10 players en route in Venus Williams, Garbiñe Muguruza, Simona Halep and Caroline Wozniacki. Svitolina's first loss of the season at Premier-5-level came the following week in the third round of Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
, losing to Julia Görges
Julia Görges (born 2 November 1988) is a German former professional tennis player. A former top-ten singles player, she was ranked as high as No. 9 in the world on 20 August 2018, and was ranked inside the top 15 in doubles, peaking at world No ...
.
She entered the US Open knowing that a run to the semifinals would see her claim the world-number-one ranking for the first time. She overcame Kateřina Siniaková
Kateřina Siniaková (; ; born 10 May 1996) is a Czech professional tennis player who is the current world No. 1 in doubles.
She is a six-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having won the 2018 and 2021 French Opens, 2018 and 2022 Wimbled ...
in a rain-interrupted three-set encounter, before easing past Evgeniya Rodina
Evgeniya Sergeyevna Rodina (russian: Евгения Сергеевна Родина, born 4 February 1989) is a Russian tennis player. On 6 May 2019, she achieved a career-high singles ranking of 67.
Rodina has won 13 singles titles on the ITF ...
and Shelby Rogers to reach the round of 16 at the US Open for the first time. She was then defeated by eventual runner-up Madison Keys
Madison Keys (born February 17, 1995) is an American professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 7 by the Women's Tennis Association
The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) is the principal organizing body of women's ...
in three sets.
Despite missing a large part of the Asian swing, Svitolina still secured her place at the year-end 2017 WTA Finals, WTA Finals in Singapore, making her the first Ukrainian ever to do so. As the third seed in 2017 China Open (tennis), Beijing, she progressed to her eighth quarterfinal of the year with relative ease, defeating wildcard Zhu Lin, recent Wuhan finalist Ashleigh Barty and Elena Vesnina. There, she was defeated by Caroline Garcia on a final-set tiebreak.
Svitolina was drawn into the Red Group at the WTA Finals, alongside Halep, Wozniacki and Caroline Garcia. Despite earning her fifth career win over a number-one-ranked player by defeating Halep, Svitolina lost her other two matches, including a two-set drubbing by eventual champion Wozniacki, which ultimately placed her third in the group. She finished the year ranked at No. 6.
2018: WTA Finals champion
Svitolina began her 2018 season by capturing the 2018 Brisbane International, Brisbane International title, defeating qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the final. She then competed at the 2018 Australian Open, Australian Open as the fourth seed. She faced qualifier Ivana Jorović and won in straight sets. Against Kateřina Siniaková, Svitolina prevailed in three sets. She then had two straight-sets wins over qualifier and compatriot Marta Kostyuk and Denisa Allertová Denisa is a feminine given name, equivalent to English '' Denise'', used in various European languages, particularly in Albanian, Croatian, Czech, Romanian, Slovak and Slovenian. Notable people with the name include:
* Denisa Chládková
* Denisa D ...
to advance to her first Australian Open quarterfinal where she was upset by Elise Mertens in straight sets.
Svitolina's 11th career title came after a successful defence of her crown in 2018 Dubai Tennis Championships, Dubai, where she brushed aside Daria Kasatkina in the final. After losing to Carla Suárez Navarro in the third round of 2018 BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells, she produced her best ever result in 2018 Miami Open, Miami, reaching the quarterfinals before falling to eventual runner-up Jeļena Ostapenko in straight sets.
Rebounding from a second-round loss in 2018 Mutua Madrid Open, Madrid to Suárez Navarro, Svitolina claimed her second straight 2018 Italian Open (tennis), Italian Open crown, defeating top seed Simona Halep in two sets, in a rematch of the previous year's final. At the 2018 French Open, French Open, Svitolina posted wins against Ajla Tomljanović and Viktória Kužmová, before being upset in the third round by Mihaela Buzărnescu.
She began her grass-court season with a run to the quarterfinals of 2018 Birmingham Classic, Birmingham, losing again to Buzărnescu. Svitolina was then upset in the first round of 2018 Wimbledon Championships, Wimbledon by recent 2018 Mallorca Open, Mallorca champion Tatjana Maria.
She enjoyed moderate success during the 2018 US Open Series, US Open Series, reaching the semifinals in 2018 Rogers Cup, Montréal, where she was the defending champion, and the quarterfinals of 2018 Western & Southern Open, Cincinnati, losing there to eventual champion Kiki Bertens. She reached the round of 16 at the 2018 US Open (tennis), US Open for the second straight year, losing to Anastasija Sevastova in three sets.
Svitolina's struggles with form continued into the Asian swing, with back-to-back opening round losses to eventual champion Aryna Sabalenka in 2018 Wuhan Open, Wuhan, and Aleksandra Krunić in 2018 China Open (tennis), Beijing, despite opening up a 6–0, 3–0 lead in the latter match. A quarterfinal defeat in 2018 Hong Kong Tennis Open, Hong Kong to in-form Wang Qiang (tennis), Wang Qiang, coupled with Svitolina's decision not to play in the final week of the year at either 2018 Kremlin Cup, Moscow or 2018 BGL Luxembourg Open, Luxembourg City, meant that qualification for the WTA Finals in Singapore would rest on the performances of Karolína Plíšková and Kiki Bertens in Moscow. Plíšková's defeat in the second round ensured that Svitolina would qualify for Singapore for the second successive year.
As the sixth seed, she was drawn into the White Group, alongside defending champion Caroline Wozniacki, and Czechs Plíšková and Petra Kvitová. She won all three of her round-robin matches, first snapping a seven-match losing streak against Kvitová, defeating her in straight sets. She then defeated both Plíšková and Wozniacki in three sets to secure her place in the semifinals alongside Plíšková. She defeated Kiki Bertens in three sets, and in the final, she came from a set down to beat Sloane Stephens, winning the biggest title of her career. Svitolina ended the year as the world No. 4.
2019: Two Grand Slam semifinals
Svitolina opened the season with an unsuccessful title defense in 2019 Brisbane International, Brisbane; she lost her first match to the previous year's finalist, Aliaksandra Sasnovich. Seeded sixth at the 2019 Australian Open, Australian Open, she defeated qualifier Viktorija Golubic, Viktória Kužmová, Zhang Shuai, and 17th seed Madison Keys to make her second consecutive quarterfinal at the Australian Open. She was, however, afflicted by a neck and shoulder injury and was defeated by fourth seed and eventual champion Naomi Osaka in straight sets. Svitolina then reached back-to-back semifinals in 2019 Qatar Total Open, Doha, losing with the lead in the final set against Simona Halep, and 2019 Dubai Tennis Championships, Dubai, where she was the two-time defending champion, losing in a third-set tiebreak to eventual champion Belinda Bencic. Svitolina reached her third consecutive semifinal of the year at 2019 BNP Paribas Open – Women's singles, Indian Wells. In her first Premier Mandatory semifinal since 2016, she lost in three sets to 18-year-old wildcard and eventual champion Bianca Andreescu. The next week at the 2019 Miami Open – Women's singles, Miami Open, she suffered a surprise defeat in her opening match against Wang Yafan. Svitolina later revealed that she had been struggling with knee pain for several weeks and announced she would take a short break to recover. Svitolina's clay-court season began with back-to-back opening round losses to Pauline Parmentier in 2019 Mutua Madrid Open, Madrid and to Victoria Azarenka in 2019 Italian Open (tennis), Rome, where she was the two-time defending champion and had held a match point leading in the final set. At the 2019 French Open – Women's singles, French Open, Svitolina was defeated in the third round by the 2016 champion, Garbiñe Muguruza.
After losing in her opening round at both 2019 Birmingham Classic, Birmingham and 2019 Eastbourne International, Eastbourne, Svitolina proceeded to reach her first Grand Slam semifinal at 2019 Wimbledon Championships, Wimbledon with victories over Daria Gavrilova, Margarita Gasparyan, Maria Sakkari, Petra Martić and Karolína Muchová, becoming the first Ukrainian ever to do so. There, she faced eventual champion Simona Halep and was defeated in two sets.
The North American hardcourt season began for Svitolina at 2019 Silicon Valley Classic, San Jose, where as the top seed, she fell to Maria Sakkari in the quarterfinals. She would then fall to Sofia Kenin in both the quarterfinals of 2019 Rogers Cup, Toronto and the round of 16 at 2019 Western & Southern Open, Cincinnati. Entering the 2019 US Open (tennis), US Open as the No. 5 seed, Svitolina defeated Whitney Osuigwe, Venus Williams, Dayana Yastremska and Madison Keys to reach her first US Open quarterfinal. There, she defeated Johanna Konta in straight sets for a spot in her second successive Grand Slam semifinal. She was then defeated in straight sets by Serena Williams. She subsequently returned to her career-high ranking position of No. 3.
Svitolina reached three consecutive quarterfinals in the season-closing Asian swing, losing to Kristina Mladenovic in 2019 Zhengzhou Open, Zhengzhou, eventual runner-up Alison Riske in 2019 Wuhan Open, Wuhan, and Kiki Bertens in 2019 China Open (tennis), Beijing. Despite failing to reach a final during the season, Svitolina's overall consistency managed to secure her spot as the eighth seed at the WTA Finals in 2019 WTA Finals, Shenzhen for the third successive year. She was drawn into the Purple Group alongside Karolína Plíšková, US Open champion Bianca Andreescu, who was later replaced by Sofia Kenin, and Wimbledon champion Simona Halep. Svitolina topped her group, winning all three matches without dropping a set. Her semifinal match against Belinda Bencic was cut short when Bencic retired with a leg injury down 4–1 in the final set, meaning that Svitolina would advance to the final for the second year in succession, as well as her first final since winning the title in 2018. She failed to defend her title, however, losing in straight sets to Ashleigh Barty. This meant Svitolina failed to win a title during the year for the first time since 2012.
2020: Monterrey and Strasbourg titles, return to top 5
At her first tournament of the year in 2020 Brisbane International – Singles, Brisbane, Svitolina lost in the first round to Danielle Collins in straight sets. At the 2020 Australian Open – Women's singles, Australian Open, Svitolina defeated Katie Boulter and Lauren Davis
Lauren Davis (born October 9, 1993) is an American professional tennis player. Known for her aggressive backhand, speed, and clay-court strength, she won her first title on the WTA Tour at the Auckland Open and reached a career-high singles ra ...
, before falling to eventual runner-up Garbiñe Muguruza. Svitolina's slow start to the season continued, being upset in the quarterfinals of 2020 Thailand Open (tennis), Hua Hin by Nao Hibino, and in the first round of both 2020 Dubai Tennis Championships, Dubai by Jennifer Brady, and 2020 Qatar Total Open, Doha by Amanda Anisimova. She rebounded at the 2020 Monterrey Open, Monterrey Open, where she easily reached the final without dropping a set. She then defeated Marie Bouzková in the final in three sets, capturing her 14th singles title, and her first since her WTA Finals win over 16 months ago.
Following the suspension of the WTA Tour due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Svitolina declined to participate in the 2020 US Open (tennis), US Open due to safety concerns. Her first tournament back was the 2020 Italian Open – Women's singles, Italian Open and defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Svetlana Kuznetsova to reach the quarterfinals, where she lost to Markéta Vondroušová, winning just three games. She next participated at 2020 Internationaux de Strasbourg – Singles, Strasbourg, where she defeated Magda Linette, Jil Teichmann, and Aryna Sabalenka to reach the final. There, she won her 15th WTA singles title, defeating Elena Rybakina in three tight sets. At the 2020 French Open – Women's singles, French Open, where she was the third seed, Svitolina defeated Varvara Gracheva, Renata Zarazúa, Ekaterina Alexandrova, and Caroline Garcia
Caroline Garcia (, born 16 October 1993) is a French professional tennis player. She has been ranked in the top 5 in both singles at world No. 4 and in doubles at world No. 2. Garcia is the 2022 WTA Finals singles champion.
She is also a two-ti ...
to reach the quarterfinals. At this stage, she was upset by qualifier and world No. 130, Nadia Podoroska. Her final tournament of the season was at the inaugural event in 2020 J&T Banka Ostrava Open – Singles, Ostrava, where, in receipt of a first-round bye, she was defeated by Maria Sakkari in straight sets in the second round. She ended her season at Ostrava, and ended the year ranked No. 5.
2021: Olympic bronze medal, 16th WTA title, out of top 10
Svitolina began her year as the second seed at the 2021 Abu Dhabi Women's Tennis Open – Singles, Abu Dhabi Open and made it to the quarterfinals, where she lost to unseeded Veronika Kudermetova after a third set tiebreak, during which she could not recover from a 3–0 gap at the start. Following the loss, she embarked on her first tournament of the Australian hard court swing at the inaugural 2021 Gippsland Trophy – Singles, Gippsland Trophy in Melbourne, where she entered as the third seed. After holding offAndrea Petkovic
Andrea Petkovic (, ; born 9 September 1987) is a German former professional tennis player. Born in Tuzla, SFR Yugoslavia, to Serbian father Zoran and Bosniak mother Amira, she moved to Germany at six months old and turned professional in 2006 a ...
and Jeļena Ostapenko
Jeļena Ostapenko (born 8 June 1997), also known as Aļona Ostapenko, is a Latvian professional tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of world No. 5 in singles, achieved on 19 March 2018, and world No. 9 in doubles, reached on 22 Augus ...
, she was confronted by Elise Mertens and lost after her second consecutive third set tiebreak at the tournament. Next, Svitolina began the 2021 Australian Open – Women's singles, Australian Open as the fifth seed and made it to the fourth round before she was shocked by unseeded Jessica Pegula in another three-set match, one that she recapped as "where nothing was going my way." The loss gave Pegula her first victory over a top 10 player, but Svitolina her sixth defeat to a player ranked outside the top 30 at a Grand Slam event since she had become ranked within the top 10 since May 2017.
In March, Svitolina began the year's Middle Eastern hardcourt swing that ended with consecutive disappointments. She first entered the 2021 Qatar Total Open – Singles, Qatar Open as the top seed but was defeated by an injured Victoria Azarenka in her second match of the tournament. The following week, she entered the 2021 Dubai Tennis Championships – Women's singles, Dubai Championships as the first seed once more, but she was quickly forced out just after her first match following a loss to Svetlana Kuznetsova, in three sets. Later that month, she turned her fortunes around at the 2021 Miami Open – Women's singles, Miami Open, after she reached the semifinals for the first time in her seventh appearance at the tournament. She was defeated by eventual champion, Ash Barty, in straight sets.
Svitolina kicked off the year's Europe clay swing at the 2021 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix – Singles, Stuttgart Open with a strong performance after making it to the semifinals following a grueling three-set win over defending champion, Petra Kvitová, in the quarterfinals. The win set her up for her second semifinal match of the year against Ashleigh Barty, where she eventually came up short again in another three-set match. The defeat marked her third consecutive loss to Barty in their head-to-head record. Svitolina experienced much less success at the 2021 Mutua Madrid Open – Women's singles, Madrid Open after being upset in the first round by Jil Teichmann, but she shrugged the loss off quickly as she made it into the quarterfinals of the 2021 Italian Open – Women's singles, Italian Open the following week. There, she was defeated by eventual champion Iga Świątek, in straight sets. The swing ended at the 2021 French Open – Women's singles, French Open, where fifth-seeded Svitolina lost in the third round to eventual champion, Barbora Krejčíková, in straight sets. Despite the losses, Svitolina credited her investment in online psychology courses with helping her cope with the chaotic nature of being on tour during the clay-court swing amid the pandemic.
For the grass swing, second-seeded Svitolina attended her first tournament at the 2021 WTA German Open – Singles, German Open in Berlin and had a rough start after she was ousted in her first match there; her loss to Ekaterina Alexandrova, in straight sets, marked her first loss to the Russian in their four-match head-to-head record. Her woes followed her to the 2021 Eastbourne International – Women's singles, Eastbourne International the following week, where she was defeated in the second round by unseeded Elena Rybakina, in straight sets. The swing culminated with 2021 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles, Wimbledon, where the defending semifinalist finished a disappointing grass swing with a straight-set loss to unseeded Magda Linette, in just the second round. Her elimination marked the biggest upset of the year's tournament at the time.
At the 2020 Summer Olympics
The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July.
Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...
in Tokyo, Svitolina embarked on her second Olympics appearance and entered into the Tennis at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's singles, singles tennis tournament as the fourth seed. This would be her second bid to earn her home country its very first medal in tennis in Olympics history. After defeating Camila Giorgi
Camila Giorgi (; born 30 December 1991) is an Italian professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 26, achieved on 22 October 2018. She is the current Italian No. 2, after Martina Trevisan.
After winning her fi ...
in the quarterfinals, she was stopped from reaching the gold medal match by Markéta Vondroušová in the semifinals when she lost in straight sets. Disappointed from losing the semifinals but unfazed, she faced off against Elena Rybakina in the bronze medal match in a rematch since their encounter in Eastbourne. This time, Svitolina exacted revenge and came back from a set down to win the second set tiebreak and the decider. Speaking on the significance of the victory after winning the bronze medal, Svitolina exclaimed, "To win such a big battle for the bronze, it means the world for me. Everyone in Ukraine is watching, we don't win so many medals, it's very special for me and Ukraine."
Coming off of her win in Tokyo, Svitolina hoped to continue her streak of success in the beginning of the North American hardcourt swing during the year's US Open Series, but she quickly failed to materialize crucial wins in the first two tournaments of the swing. At the 2021 National Bank Open – Women's singles, Canadian Open, third-seeded Svitolina was defeated in her first match by Johanna Konta
Johanna Konta (born 17 May 1991) is a British former professional tennis player, having represented Australia until 2012. She won four singles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as 11 singles and four doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. The ...
in a three-set loss, despite having won the first set. The loss marked her first in their six-match head-to-head record. The following week, at the 2021 Western & Southern Open – Women's singles, Cincinnati Open, fourth-seeded Svitolina was again ousted in her first match, this time against Angelique Kerber in another three-set loss. After her disappointing early exits, Svitolina traveled to Michigan for the inaugural 2021 Chicago Women's Open – Singles, Chicago Open as the top seed, where she won her 16th WTA title after defeating Alizé Cornet in the final match, in straight sets. Regarding her decision to play in Chicago, Svitolina said, "I came here to get some confidence, play some good matches, and in the end it happened like that. I’m looking forward to New York."
In New York, at the year's 2021 US Open – Women's singles, US Open, fifth-seeded Svitolina began her campaign with straight-set wins over Rebecca Marino and Rebeka Masarova in the first and second round, respectively. She followed those victories with two additional straight-set wins over 25th seed Daria Kasatkina and 12th seed Simona Halep
Simona Halep (; born 27 September 1991) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles twice between 2017 and 2019, for a total of 64 weeks, which ranks eleventh in the history of the Women's Tennis Assoc ...
to reach her second US Open quarterfinal. But in the quarterfinals, Svitolina was toppled by unseeded 19-year-old Leylah Fernandez in a thriller three-setter that saw Svitolina take the second set and come back from three games down in the decider to take the set to a tiebreak. Svitolina ultimately became the third of four seeded players that Fernandez defeated while on her winning streak to reach her first Grand Slam final.
A few weeks later, in a bid to replicate the success she experienced in Chicago just a few weeks prior, Svitolina entered into the inaugural 2021 Chicago Fall Tennis Classic – Singles, Chicago Fall Tennis Classic as the top seed, but she lost to sixth seed and eventual finalist Ons Jabeur
Ons Jabeur ( ar, أُنْس جَابِر, ʾUns Jābir, ; born 28 August 1994) is a Tunisian professional tennis player. She has a career high Women's Tennis Association (WTA) ranking of world No. 2 achieved on 27 June 2022. Jabeur is the curr ...
in straight sets in the quarterfinals. The loss was her first to Jabeur in their four encounters. At 2021 BNP Paribas Open – Women's singles, Indian Wells, the defending semifinalist entered as the fourth seed and fought off Sorana Cîrstea in the third round in a three-set match, where she was down by a break in the deciding set, before she was swiftly ousted by Pegula in the fourth round in a straight-set Glossary of tennis terms#Breadstick, breadstick defeat. Following the loss, she explained to the press that she had been suffering from a muscle strain in her right leg during the tournament, which prevented her from practicing regularly and severely hampered her movement during her final match. Her season-end struggles continued after a first round defeat to Camila Osorio at the 2021 Tenerife Ladies Open – Singles, Tenerife Ladies Open, despite being the top seed. For the first time in four years, she ended the year outside of the top 10 ranked at No. 15.
2022: Hiatus
On 31 March 2022 Svitolina announced that she was taking a temporary break from competition. The reason given were health problems, including back pain and emotional exhaustion due to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.Playing style
The Guardian described Svitolina's playing style as "deceptively casual", but being capable of "brilliant displays" when in good form. Svitolina is capable of turning defense into offense when given the chance, and is capable of hitting low-risk winners from defensive positions. Her groundstrokes are very consistent and are hit with moderate power, although she is capable of hitting groundstrokes with significant power when the opportunity arises. Her backhand is her stronger side, especially down the line and on the run, although both her forehand and her backhand penetrate deep into the court. Her second serve is particularly weak and often exploited allowing return winners. She often struggles if playing against someone who is very aggressive and not making many unforced errors on that day. Her first serve speed peaks at , allowing her to serve aces. She has been known to struggle with volleying at the net, but she possesses good reactions, and she can accelerate well across the court to deal with short balls. Her favourite surfaces are grass court, grass and clay court, clay, although she is yet to reach a singles final on grass.
Coaches
Svitolina was coached by Sébastien Mathieu in 2013 and 2014. She then worked with Iain Hughes for two and a half years, and chose to split from him in November 2016. In February 2016, she added former world No. 1 Justine Henin to her coaching team. In late 2016, Svitolina announced that Gabriel Urpí would be her new coach, with Thierry Ascione replacing Henin as her new coaching consultant. Ascione coached Svitolina until the 2018 US Open, and she then had a brief stint with Nick Saviano, whilst still being accompanied on a weekly basis by hitting partner Andrew Bettles. Bettles became her full-time coach for the 2018 season, and former player Marcos Baghdatis began working with her for the 2020 season. Following the end of her 2021 season, Svitolina split with Bettles., announcing her new team will be made of Andis Juška as new coach and Gunter Bresnik as consultant.Equipment
Svitolina has been endorsed by Nike, Inc., Nike for clothing and shoes since 2016, having previously been sponsored by Ellesse and Lacoste. Svitolina uses Wilson Sporting Goods, Wilson racquets, specifically endorsing the Wilson Blade range of racquets.Personal life
Svitolina is married to Association of Tennis Professionals, ATP tennis player Gaël Monfils. They began their relationship in 2019, announced their engagement on April 3, 2021, and were married on July 16, 2021. Svitolina does not plan on changing her surname with the International Tennis Federation, ITF to Monfils while she is an active player; however, she uses "Elina Monfils" on her social media profiles. On 15 May 2022, Svitolina and Monfils announced they were expecting their first child together, a girl. On October 15, they welcomed their daughter, Skaï Monfils, and announced it in their social accounts.Career statistics
Olympic Games
Bronze medal match
WTA Championships finals
Grand Slam singles performance timeline
References
External links
* * *Elina Svitolina at the Tennis Ukraine
Elina Svitolina at the Ukrainian Tennis Portal
Elina Svitolina pictures gallery
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Svitolina, Elina 1994 births Living people Ukrainian female tennis players Sportspeople from Odesa Tennis players at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' singles French Open junior champions Tennis players at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic tennis players of Ukraine Hopman Cup competitors Tennis players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in tennis Olympic bronze medalists for Ukraine