Elina Svitolina says the journey can be more important than reaching your goals

Elina Svitolina in action
Elina Svitolina during a match

Elina Svitolina says that the experience of giving birth and returning to the WTA Tour has been one that has changed her perspective.

Svitolina insists that she still has goals in her career but she has learned the importance of enjoying the journey and not just celebrating the big achievements.

She still sets herself high goals but is realistic about what it is possible to achieve in the sport.

“For sure I have high goals, and I always had high goals for myself, and I have ultimate goals, like I think every tennis player, to win a Grand Slam and become No.1 in the world. But I think it’s important to also realise the journey that I had over the years, being in the top 10, top five for some years, it also can be enough,” Svitolina told rolandgarros.com.

“Because for sure when you get pregnant, you hope that everything goes well, but also have to see realistically that maybe I will not be able to come back.

“So in that moment, it took me some months to realise, to maybe have a different perspective as well about my career, and that’s why I think it also helped me when I had the chance to come back. Actually, I think with zero expectations, I came back even quicker because I was not expecting to come back in Charleston.”

Svitolina reveals that she can find herself being driven by her goals and being far too hard on herself.

“I feel like it’s a constant process of accepting and moving forward with what you have. Accept what you have and just draw confidence from this,” said the 29-year-old.

“For example, even I was thinking, when I was, let’s say, 50 in the world, I dreamed and worked towards being top 10, and I always thought, when I will be top 10, I won’t worry anymore about results, about the rankings and stuff,” she explained.

“And then when I reached top 10, I was like, when I’ll be top five I’m going to stop thinking and worrying. Because I think it’s mostly worry, you have points to defend, you have goals, tournaments are coming up, nerves are building up. So I got to top five and it never changed.

“So I think it’s important, doesn’t matter what your ranking is, it’s important to know what you’ve already done, how much work you’ve already done before that, to be happy with what you already achieved and what you did, which tournaments you won, the tough matches where you were able to hold the nerves.

“So for me it’s always a process, reminding myself that I already achieved quite a lot in my career and even if I have to stop tomorrow, that I can live peacefully with myself. This is always a constant process, to remind myself to not be too hard on myself.”

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