Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina says ‘war made me stronger’ after reaching Wimbledon semi-final with Iga Swiatek win

WIMBLEDON – Elina Svitolina says war in Ukraine has turned her into a better tennis player because she is now “mentally stronger”.

Svitolina stunned world No 1 Iga Swiatek 7-5, 6-7, 6-2 in the quarter-final to become the first wildcard in the women’s semi-finals since Sabine Lisicki in 2011.

The Ukrainian gave birth to her daughter Skai in October 2022 and has been relying on her protected ranking and wildcards to enter tournaments since her return to the professional game in April.

However, she reached the quarter-finals of the French Open and is now back in the last four of a grand slam for the first time since the US Open in 2019.

“War made me stronger and also made me mentally stronger,” Svitolina said after beating Swiatek to set up Thursday’s clash with Marketa Vondrousova.

“Mentally I don’t take difficult situations as a disaster. There are worse things in life. I’m just more calmer.

“Also because I’m just started to play again, I have different pressures. Of course, I want to win. I have this motivation, huge motivation, to come back to the top.

“But having a child, and war, made me a different person. I look at the things a bit differently.”

Svitolina is not the only one to have noticed. She had only only played Swiatek once before, in Rome back in 2021, and the Pole won comfortably.

“She’s playing differently than before, than when we played on clay a couple years back,” Swiatek said.

“I played some mistakes that I shouldn’t do. That’s why I lost. But she also put pressure on me. She played with more freedom and more guts. Sometimes she really just let go of her hand and she played really, really fast.

“We also practised in Australia. I didn’t remember that she was changing rhythm so much in terms of playing these faster shots sometimes.

“But I totally get that, why she’s doing that. It totally makes sense. You have to have guts if you want to win these matches.”

Svitolina has raised tens of thousands of pounds in aid for her homeland of Ukraine, and said that when she beat Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in the fourth round she felt she was fighting for her country.

When she won the Strasbourg Open in May, Svitolina pledged her prize money to the children of Ukraine through her eponymous foundation, which she founded in 2019.

The 28-year-old also said that growing older – as well as the experiences of the last 15 months – had helped her adjust her attitude on court: “Right now I just say to myself I think it’s less years that I have in front than behind me.

“I have to go for it. I don’t have time to lose any more. I don’t know how many years I will be playing more. So just I try to tell myself like go for it. You practise for these moments, for these big moments.

“Just I told myself, ‘Go out there, give your best, go for it.’ This really helped me and calmed me a little bit, as well.”