‘Struggle continues’ Elina Svitolina out of the Madrid and Italian Open, big doubt for French Open
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Elina Svitolina
Former World No. 3 and currently the World No. 29, Elina Svitolina has been going through one of her worst patches not only professionally but personally as well. With the Russian attempt to invade Ukraine starting a war that has now been going on for more than 2 months, Elina continues to be worried about her family and friends stuck in Ukraine.
Elina was in Doha for the 2022 Qatar Open when the war broke out and was lucky enough to never be involved in it as many Ukrainians had to flee to save themselves from the war. With the war being a mental burden on her, Elina has played very few tournaments since then and had already pledged to donate all of her tournaments fees to relief funds back home in Ukraine.
With only three tournament appearances since Doha, a quarter-final run in Monterrey followed by second-round exits from both Indian Wells and Miami Open, Elina has not played on the Tour for over a month and it looks unlikely she will play for yet another month. Elina was scheduled to feature in the upcoming 2022 Madrid Open followed by the 2022 Italian Open in Rome, both WTA-1000 events.
The Olympic bronze medallist has however decided to withdraw from both events. Along with the war, Elina also has had fitness issues with problems in her back and as a combined result of both, she will be absent from both events. Having not stepped on the Clay so far, it seems highly unlikely that she will return for the 2022 French Open.
The only motivating factor for her to participate in the Roland Garros could be making a strong statement against the war in the Grand Slam which will be watched globally unlike many tour events and the major will also have higher tournament fees for her which she can then donate to humanitarian cause back home to help out her compatriots.
Elina Svitolina’s season so far
Elina did not enjoy a good start to the season and would have been hoping for a turnaround during the Golden Swing where she has performed well in the past. Elina started her season with defeats in her first two matches reaching the 2022 Australian Open without a win.
At the Melbourne Park, she reached the third round before going down against Victoria Azarenka who served her a bagel in a thumping defeat. In Dubai, Elina was defeated in the second round before facing a first-round defeat in Doha. She is 5-8 for the season as she continues to take a break from the sport.
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Sarthak Shitole
(3462 Articles Published)