Elina Svitolina

Elina Svitolina (Ukrainian: Еліна Світоліна, pronounced [eˈl⁽ʲ⁾inɐ s⁽ʲ⁾wiˈtɔl⁽ʲ⁾inɐ]; born 12 September 1994) is a Ukrainian professional tennis player. She has career-high rankings of world No. 3 in singles and No. 108 in doubles by the WTA. Svitolina has won 19 WTA Tour singles titles, including the 2018 WTA Finals and four Premier 5-level tournaments, and has reached four major semifinals.

Svitolina first broke into the world's top 50 in July 2013 and the top 10 in May 2017, making her the highest-ranked Ukrainian woman in history. Svitolina reached two major semifinals in 2019 at Wimbledon and the US Open. In 2021, she won an Olympic bronze medal in the women's singles tournament at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to become the first Olympian to win a medal in tennis for Ukraine.

In 2022, Svitolina took a break from professional tennis to give birth to her first child. She made a strong comeback upon her return to competition in 2023, reaching the French Open quarterfinals and the Wimbledon semifinals in her first few tournaments back. She achieved consistent success in the following years, culminating in an Australian Open semifinal and return to the world's top 10 in 2026.

Early life and background

Svitolina was born in Odesa to Ukrainian parents, Mikhaylo Svitolin (a former wrestler) and Olena Svitolina (a former competitive rower). She has a Jewish grandmother. She was named after the famous Soviet actress Elina Bystritskaya. She has an older brother, Yulian. As a child, she 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, Ukraine, when she was 13, after businessman Yuriy Sapronov became her sponsor. 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.

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". Having spoken Russian most of her life, Svitolina has been actively learning the Ukrainian and French languages since the COVID-19 quarantine at the 2021 Australian Open. In January 2022, she promised, in an interview with Dmitry Gordon, to master the Ukrainian language.

Career

Early career

Yulian Svitolin began full time coaching career in 2003 as a head coach of his younger sister, Elina Svitolina. Yulian Svitolin worked with Elina for 5 years. She was 14 years old at that time and made a tremendous improvement and break through at the age of 15 by winning the Grand Slam, Roland Garros. Svitolina's greatest achievement as a junior was winning the French Open girls event in 2010, beating Tunisian Ons Jabeur in the final. She reached her first professional singles final at the $25k tournament in Kharkiv in May 2010. She also reached the final of the girls' singles event at the 2012 Wimbledon Championships, where she lost to Eugenie Bouchard.

Svitolina made her WTA Tour main-draw debut at the 2012 Baku Cup. She qualified for the US Open and was defeated in the first round by 12th seed and eventual quarterfinalist Ana Ivanovic. She won the WTA 125 Royal Indian Open title in Pune, defeating Andreja Klepač, Rutuja Bhosale, Luksika Kumkhum, former top-10 player Andrea Petkovic, and Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm in the final.

2013: WTA Tour title

Svitolina gained direct entry into the Australian Open, where she was defeated by fifth seed Angelique Kerber in the first round. She won her first WTA title at the Baku Cup by beating Shahar Pe'er; in doing so, Svitolina became the first teenager to win a WTA tournament since February 2012. 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 career title

At the Australian Open, Svitolina defeated two-time Grand Slam champion and three-time Australian Open quarterfinalist Svetlana Kuznetsova in the opening round in straight sets. She went on to reach the third round, losing to Sloane Stephens in straight sets.

After defending her Baku Cup title by beating Bojana Jovanovski 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 champion Petra Kvitová 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, defeating Camila Giorgi, Sabine Lisicki, Garbiñe Muguruza via walkover, and Angelique Kerber before losing to Petra Kvitová in the semifinals.

2015: First major quarterfinal, No. 15

She began the new season at the Brisbane International where she reached the semifinals before losing to eventual champion Maria Sharapova. At the Australian Open, 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 and Doha, losing in tight three-set matches to Petra Kvitová and Victoria Azarenka, respectively.

As the 23rd seed in Indian Wells, she defeated Alison Van Uytvanck and Lucie Šafářová, before losing in the fourth round to Timea Bacsinszky. The following week in Miami, she defeated Bojana Jovanovski before losing in the third round to the eighth seed Ekaterina Makarova. As the top seed at a tournament for the first time in Bogotá, Svitolina reached the semifinals, defeating Louisa Chirico, Danka Kovinić and Irina Falconi, before losing to eventual champion Teliana Pereira.

She continued her successful start to the clay-court season by winning her third career title and first on clay in Marrakech, recovering from 2–5 down in the opening set to defeat Tímea Babos, 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. The following week in Madrid, after easily dispatching Daniela Hantuchová, Svitolina lost to Ana Ivanovic for the sixth time in her career. A similar scenario occurred in Rome, where she defeated Flavia Pennetta in straight sets before losing to Venus Williams.

At the French Open, after comfortably seeing off Yanina Wickmayer 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 in a match that lasted over three hours. Another tight three-set victory ensued in the third round against Annika Beck, before Svitolina defeated Alizé Cornet 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 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 to Heather Watson. As the 17th seed at Wimbledon, she came from a set down to beat Misaki Doi, who had beaten her at the same stage the previous year, before again losing in the second round to Australian Casey Dellacqua. Despite losing in the first round of İstanbul to Magdaléna Rybáriková, Svitolina successfully defended her doubles title from the previous year, this time partnering Daria Gavrilova.

She began U.S. hardcourt season with a run to the semifinals in Stanford, losing in straight sets to eventual champion Angelique Kerber. At the Rogers Cup, Svitolina lost in the first round to Victoria Azarenka. She bettered her performance from the previous year in Cincinnati, defeating Alison Riske, Eugenie Bouchard and Caroline Garcia 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, where she retired from her first-round match against Madison Keys. She progressed to the third round of the US Open, defeating Elizaveta Kulichkova and Kaia Kanepi, before losing to 13th seed Ekaterina Makarova for the third time this year.

The Asian hardcourt swing began in Tokyo for Svitolina, where she lost in the second round to eventual champion Agnieszka Radwańska. Svitolina failed to repeat her success from the previous year in Wuhan, losing in the third round to Karolína Plíšková. Similarly disappointing results ensued for Svitolina, losing in the second round of Beijing to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and the first round of Tianjin to Elena Vesnina.