Tennis Wimbledon
“The war made me stronger,” says Switolina
Status: 12.07.2023 | Reading time: 2 minutes
Elina Switolina is ranked 76th in the WTA ranking. Now she beat the world number one Iga Swiatek in Wimbledon
Source: dpa/Steven Paston
It’s a tennis fairy tale that’s taking place in Wimbledon. The Ukrainian Jelina Switolina rushes from victory to victory in the grass classic. About nine months ago she became a mother, she only started with a wildcard.
With her successes in Wimbledon, the Ukrainian tennis player Jelina Switolina wants to bring at least some joy to the people in her homeland, which is suffering from the Russian war of aggression. “I’ve seen a lot of videos on the internet where kids are watching my games on their phones. That really makes my heart melt,” said Switolina after reaching the semi-finals in the classic lawn game on Tuesday. She was “happy that I can bring a little bit of joy into her life”.
The war in Ukraine, which has been going on for more than 500 days, has also changed her life, said Switolina. “The war made me stronger,” said the 28-year-old. “Mentally, I no longer see difficult situations on the pitch as a disaster,” said Switolina. “There are worse things in life.”
Switolina, who is married to French tennis pro Gael Monfils, gave birth to her first daughter around nine months ago. She only returned to the tennis tour at the beginning of April after a year’s baby break. “Having a child and the war made me a different person,” said Switolina, “I see many things from a different perspective.”
She will now face Vondrousova in the Wimbledon semifinals
Her Wimbledon fairy tale continued on the lawn classic when she threw world number one Iga Swiatek from Poland out of the tournament. Switolina defeated Swiatek 7-5, 6-7 (5-7), 6-2. The Ukrainian, only in the main draw thanks to a wildcard from the organizers, converted her second match point after 2:50 hours and was then celebrated by the spectators. “If someone had told me before the tournament that I would get to the semifinals here and beat the number one in the world, I would have called them crazy,” said Switolina.
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It’s “difficult times in Ukraine and I can play here. It’s indescribable,” she had already said after her round of 16 success against Viktoria Azarenka from Belarus: “Every moment that I’m not on the court, I check how my family and friends are doing, how the situation in Ukraine is is.”
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She got off to a bad start again against Swiatek. But then Switolina improved, played much more aggressively and drove Swiatek to despair with her power tennis. In the semifinals on Thursday Switolina meets the Czech Marketa Vondrousova. In her quarter-finals, the 24-year-old surprisingly defeated world number four Jessica Pegula from the USA 6: 4, 2: 6, 6: 4 and thus survived the quarter-finals in Wimbledon for the first time in her tennis career.
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Source: WELT/ Lena Mosel, Carsten Hädler