Bidding to win her maiden grand slam title at the French Open, Elina Svitolina is hoping to use the grand slam as a way to attract fresh attention to her home nation.
The fourth seed continued her quest at Roland Garros on Wednesday with a 6-3, 6-4, win over Slovakia’s Viktória Kužmová. Breaking her opponent’s serve five times and blasting 29 winners during the 82-minute match. Svitolina is now on a seven-match winning streak after recently defending her title at the Italian Open.
“I’m very happy with the way, I’m playing so far, handling the tough moments. So hopefully I can continue this way.” Said Svitolina.
Born in the Ukrainian city of Odessa to a sporting background, the 23-year-old is hoping that her talent on the court will also help her fellow compatriots on the tour. Svitolina’s father Mikhaylo is a former wrestler and her mother Olena use to be a competitive rower. She has already developed a trend of receiving messages of congratulations from her country’s president, Petro Poroshenko, for her achievements in the sport.
“It’s very nice of him that he follows the sport. I know he likes tennis, so it’s something really nice.” She commented about Poroshenko.
Svitolina is hoping the surge in attention will spark a hike in investment in her national tennis federation. Currently, there are four Ukrainian women ranked inside the top 100, but Svitolina is the only one in the top 30. On the men’s tour, there is only one (Alexandr Dolgopolov at 55th).
“Hopefully we are going to have not only attention, but also maybe someone could invest some money into Ukrainian tennis for our juniors, for our upcoming generation.” Svitolina explained.
“I know that our federation is also working really hard to build the centre where juniors and the small girls and boys can train.”
Being a headline act for an entire sport in your own country also has its setbacks. Andy Murray, who was the British No.1 between 2006 – 2018, has previously spoken about the increased media scrutiny he is under. The same can be said for Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Serena Williams. Although in Svitolina’s case, it is a position that she is proud to be in.
“Representing the Ukraine and doing something for my country is very, very special. When I was growing up, it was definitely my dream to do that in front of so many people.” Svitolina reflected. “I’m very proud that I’m Ukrainian and I represent the country like this.”
Svitolina will play 31st seed Mihaela Buzărnescu in the third round at the French Open.
