French Open: Elina Svitolina wants to bring 'joy' to Ukrainians - 'It's important to give them this light'
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ByEurosport
Updated 30/05/2023 at 09:08 GMT
Elina Svitolina has spoken about her experience returning to tennis since taking maternity leave for the birth of her first child with the war in Ukraine raging on. She said: "It's extremely important to give them this light, this future that they, that they can have this motivation as well. It's extremely tough for them to live under the bombs under the alarms all the time."
Svitolina v Trevisan - Roland-Garros highlights
Elina Svitolina says she is hoping to bring "joy" to the people of Ukraine on her return to competitive action.
The Ukrainian is competing at a Grand Slam for the first time in 16 months having taken maternity leave from the tour before giving birth to her first child with her husband, Gael Monfils.
During that time Russia's war on her home country has raged on. Svitolina, currently ranked 191 in the world, returned to the tour for the clay swing in April and recorded her first top-30 win since her comeback against last year's semi-finalist Martina Trevisan in the first round at Roland-Garros on Monday.
The former world No. 3 says she hopes to offer the people of Ukraine "motivation" and "joy" during a time of war in her home country.
"This pause really helped me to realise where I am with my life," she said.
"What are the priorities. And that's why for me, you know, I try to help as much as possible Ukrainian people, Ukrainian kids, you know, they are our future.
"It's extremely important to give them this light, this future that they, that they can have and you know, this motivation as well because it's extremely tough for them to live under the bombs under the alarms all the time. So I try to bring this joy and help as much as I can."
Svitolina recalls her experience of when the war began and how it affected her psychologically.
She said: "It's for sure it's very tough and everything was very new for us.
"No one tells you how to, how to react when there is a war, some of the players were there, they were trying to escape from Ukraine when the invasion started.
"It's so tough and there is no guidance, how to be, how to react. For me it was, it was impossible to play when the war started, I was in Monterey, I played in Indian Wells, Miami.
"I still could play some tournaments but I couldn't handle it anymore emotionally it was too much for me.
"And then when I stopped it took me like a couple of months to really settle down, to try to, to realise what is really happening and how I can direct how I can use my platforms."
With Ukrainian players still competing on the tour throughout the war, Svitolina advises them to do they all can to remain focused on their tennis.
She added: "So they continue playing like Marta [Kostyuk], like Anhelina Kalinina.
"It's so tough I think for them, they just need to focus on what they can control in this moment. It's tough to give some advice.
"But I just wish they can focus on tennis and just bring this smile to Ukrainians with their wins."
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