Elina Svitolina struggles to find motivation to play tennis while checking news about Ukraine, including bombings in Odesa and destruction near Kharkiv. She worries about her grandmother, family, and friends who have been under siege for years. She draws inspiration from the idea that her grandmother will watch her match and from representing Ukraine, and she also FaceTimes her three-year-old daughter in Switzerland, who urges her to win. Svitolina recently won a tournament in Rome, defeating multiple former Grand Slam champions, and reached No. 7 in the world. She is a contender for the French Open, focusing on recovery and her first match rather than the title.
"She wakes up and checks the news from Ukraine, and she sees that Odesa, where she was born, has been bombed, or that another swath of Kharkiv-the city where she turned herself into the greatest player Ukraine has ever produced, and which is just miles from the Russian front-is in rubble. She thinks about her grandmother, who still lives in Odesa, and worries about the rest of her family and her friends who have been under siege for four years. So Svitolina takes inspiration where she can: in the idea that her grandmother will be following her match that night, or in the awareness that she represents her country and that Ukrainians need something to cheer for."
"Sometimes she reaches for something closer. She FaceTimes with her three-year-old daughter, Skaï, who stays back home in Switzerland, where she attends preschool, and Skaï tells her to "win against the lady." She looks forward to calling Skaï the next morning and saying that she did it, she won."
"In early May, she won a tournament in Rome, beating three of the top four women-Elena Rybakina, Iga Świątek, and Coco Gauff, all former Grand Slam winners-along the way. Now ranked No. 7 in the world, she has defeated all the players ranked above her at least once. And she's a contender to win the French Open, which begins today."
"But she told me that she was not thinking about the title when we spoke last week, the day before she left for Paris. She was focussed on recovering, physically and mentally, from the exhausting two weeks in Rome, which had required her maximum effort. Then, as the adrenaline began to kick in, she would focus on her first match, which, by a cruel quirk of the draw, would be against the Hungarian Anna Bonda"
Read at The New Yorker
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