Elina Svitolina unsure about long-term future, but has ‘clear’ goals for her immediate future

Tennis News
Elina Svitolina blowing kisses

Elina Svitolina admits that she doesn’t know how long she will continue to play tennis, but now that she is back on the circuit she is determined to achieve some milestones that she has set out.

Former world No 3 Svitolina and fellow professional Gael Monfils became first time parents in October last year as the Ukrainian gave birth to girl named Skai.

Barely six months after giving birth, the 28-year-old mother made her competitive comeback at the Charleston Open at the beginning of April as she accepted a wildcard for the WTA 500 tournament, but she went down in three sets against Yuli Putintseva.

The Ukrainian, who has slumped to outside the top 1,000 in the WTA Rankings, admits she would love to spend more time with her daughter and doesn’t quite know what the future holds in terms of her professional career.

“I would like to spend all my time with Skai and share every moment with her,” she said. “But I decided to return to competition and focus on my tennis. I don’t know how many more seasons I will play.

“There are some milestones I would like to achieve before retiring.”

Following her defeat in Charleston, Svitolina switched to the ITF Tour as she played in Switzerland last week, winning her opener before going down in the round of 16.

She will continue to play on the ITF and WTA 125 circuits over the next few weeks before using her protected ranking to play in the main draw of the Italian Open.

Svitolina added: “In the near future I am clear about my plans in the term. I will play an ITF tournament in Oeiras, Portugal, then I will rest for a week and then I will play a WTA 125 in Saint-Malo.

“In May I will use the protected ranking to play the WTA 1000 in Rome, then Strasbourg and finally Roland Garros.”

It is no surprise that Svitolina wants to play in Rome as she has an excellent record there, winning back-to-back titles in 2017 and 2018. Her last appearance in the Italian capital came in 2021 when she reached the quarter-final.

“I have an incredible relationship with the Foro Italico. Every time I come back I feel very happy, the passion of the Italians is contagious, they know how to support you,” she said.

“My results show my special relationship with that tournament. Rome has a great history, I really like it.”

READ MORE: Elina Svitolina and Gael Monfils share baby Skai’s first TikTok and cute parenting pictures

Elina Svitolina

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