
World No.19 Elina Svitolina has revealed that she could potentially begin working with 7-time Grand Slam champion Justine Henin in 2016.
The Ukrainian made the comments during an interview with Sport 360. The 21-year-old has achieved a win-loss of 42-27 this year on the WTA Tour. At the French Open she reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal before losing to Ana Ivanovic. She has reached one final on the tour this year at the Marrakech Open where she defeated Hungary’s Timea Babos to claim her third WTA title.
Svitolina has spent time training at the Justine Henin academy throughout her career. The academy was founded in 2007 and has coached a wide range of male and female players. Besides Svitolina, other pupils at the facility include 2015 Wimbledon Girls’ champion Sofya Zhuk and former junior world No.1 Irina Khromacheva. Currently Svitolina is training in Abu Dhabi ahead of her first tournament of 2016, the Hopman Cup. In the UAE she recently spent some time training with Henin alongside her current coach Iain Huges. Speaking about her time with Henin, the 21-year-old spoke about a potential 2016 collaboration with the Belgian former world No.1.
“She has been here with me, we’ve been practicing a little bit, but we’ll see about our partnership for 2016. We’ll know about it a bit later,” Svitolina said. “It’s like a trial. Iain is here and we will be travelling together. It’s great. I have a big team. Of course, sometimes I need to change like sparring partners and fitness coaches. But everyone has their own job and we’re doing a good job and looking forward to 2016.”
Despite the potentially exciting addition, the Ukrainian has insisted that she will keep working with her current full-time coach Hughes.
“It’s good to have something fresh, but still I’ve been working a lot with my coach (Iain) and he’s brought a lot to my game. So we will see how it will go with Justine. Of course, it’s going to be an amazing opportunity because she’s such a great champion”. She added.
Svitolina is the second youngest player ranked inside the top 20, behind American world No.18 Madison Keys. She has beaten two top ten players this year. She defeated Angelique Kerber at the Brisbane International at the start of the year and Lucie Safarova in Cincinnati.