World No.7 Elina Svitolina has ended her 20-month collaboration with French coach Thierry Ascione.
The Ukrainian announced her decision four days after her loss to Anastasija Sevastova at the US Open. Svitolina has won three titles on the WTA Tour so far this season, but her best grand slam run was to the quarter-finals of the Australian Open in January. According to a statement published by the head of Svitolina’s management agency, their partnership was ended on mutual grounds.
“The cooperation between Elina and Thierry began at the end of 2016 and was definitely fruitful. Elina has won eight WTA tournaments during the previous 18 months (four of these were Premier 5 and two Premier tournaments), made her debut in the top-10 of the WTA ranking, reached her personal best rank being World No. 3 and took part in the WTA Finals in Singapore.” Top Five Management chief, Stephane Gurov, said in a statement.
“Nonetheless, it is very important to finish any cooperation in the right moment. Elina and Thierry made a common decision and with respect to each other to finish their cooperation after the US Open.”
Since winning the Italian Open in May, the 23-year-old has endured a mixed performance on the tour. Reaching the quarter-finals in three out of six tournaments played. At the Wimbledon Championships, she crashed out in the first round before bouncing back during the North American hard court season. Reaching the semi-finals in Montreal followed by the quarter-finals in Cincinnati. Svitolina’s win-loss for this season currently stands at 34-11.
https://twitter.com/ElinaSvitolina/status/1037735896953565189
Ascione is a former top 100 player, who played Roger Federer in the second round of the 2007 French Open. As a coach he has also previously worked with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Nicolas Mahut.
https://twitter.com/thierryascione/status/1037737811993133056
At the moment there has been no announcement made about who will become Svitolina’s new mentor. Her assistant coach, Andrew Bettles, remains in her team.
“We are currently looking for a new coach for Elina Svitolina and will reveal his name soon.” Stated Gurov.
Svitolina is set to return to action later this month at the Wuhan Open in China.
