Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina says tennis has been helping lift the spirits of people in her country

Ukraine star Elina Svitolina admits tennis in her home country has been ‘put back 10 years’ because of Russia’s war after clubs were destroyed by missiles… but says the sport has helped lift the spirits of young people

  • Elina Svitolina has spoken about the role tennis is playing in her country Ukraine  
  • The 28-year-old said that the sport has been helping to lift spirits amid the war
  • She also spoke on the relationship between players from Ukraine and Russia

Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina has spoken movingly about the role tennis is playing to lift spirits in her troubled country.

Svitolina will feel the support back home when she faces Venus Williams on Monday, having returned to Kyiv in February to hold tennis camps for children.

‘Tennis in Ukraine has been put back 10 years,’ the 28-year-old said. ‘Lots of clubs been destroyed by missiles and I cannot imagine when it will be back to normal.

‘Sergiy Stakhovsky (Ukrainian male tennis player) and I went back to do a kids clinic and a lot of them enjoyed it. 

‘It was like a spark of magic for them to play with us because things were so intense with the war.

Svitolina's tennis foundation has been able to lift the spirits of young people in Ukraine with the 28-year-old going back to do a kids clinic in her home country

Svitolina has spoken about the positive impact tennis has made in her home country Ukraine

She also spoke about the relationship between Ukrainian players and those from Russia and Belarus

She also spoke about the relationship between Ukrainian players and those from Russia and Belarus

‘With my tennis foundation, I have tried to give them a life where they can keep dreaming and practising.’

Svitolina was a Wimbledon semi-finalist in 2019 but missed last year because she was pregnant.

She reached the quarter-finals on her comeback Grand Slam in Paris but was booed by fans after she refused to shake the hand of her Belarusian opponent, Aryna Sabalenka.

On the relationship between Ukrainian players and those from Russia and Belarus, she said: ‘We are more distanced from each other. That is a really obvious thing.’

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