Elina Mikhailovna Svitolina is a Ukrainian tennis player.
Place of Birth, Education
She was born on September 12, 1994 in the city of Odesa, in the family of Olena and Mikhail Svitoliny.
Between the ages of 9 and 13, she was coached by her older brother Julian.
In 2007, the family moved to Kharkiv. There, the future athlete began to play tennis under the guidance of Yuri Sapronov, who at that time was the first vice-president of the Tennis Federation of Ukraine.
She also studied at the academy of Justine Henin, a seven-time winner of Grand Slam tournaments and Olympic champion.
Sports career
Svitolina began her sports career in 2008.
2010 – 2015
At the junior level in 2010, she won the singles at the Roland Garros tournament, and also reached the doubles final at the junior Wimbledon.
The following year, the athlete became the winner of two ITF singles tournaments in Istanbul and Lagos. She also played twice in the finals in the doubles category.
In 2012, she won two ITF singles tournaments, won one WTA tournament, and also reached the final of the junior Wimbledon in the singles category.
In 2013, she again distinguished herself with successful performances: she became the winner of two ITF tournaments and one WTA tournament in singles, and also won one ITF tournament in doubles. Thanks to stable results throughout the year, Svitolina finished the season in 40th position in the WTA world ranking.
In January 2014, Svitolina reached the third round of the Australian Open, which allowed her to rise to the 38th place in the WTA ranking.
Between April and May 2015, she won her third WTA Series tournament, winning the Princess Lalli Meryem Grand Prix in Morocco. Thanks to the victory, she entered the top 20 of the world ranking for the first time.
2016 – 2020
In February 2016, Svitolina began training under the guidance of former world number one Justine Henin.
On March 6, she became the winner of the BMW Malaysian Open tournament, which was held in Kuala Lumpur. Thanks to this, she rose to 14th position in the updated WTA ranking.
In January of the same year, together with Alexander Dolgopolov, she represented Ukraine at the Hopman Cup, where the duo reached the final, losing to the Australian national team.
At the Sydney International tournament, the athlete finished her performance in the first round, losing to Angelica Kerber, and at the Australian Open she was able to advance to the second round.
During the French Open, she reached the fourth round, where she lost to Serena Williams in two sets. In the third round, she managed to defeat Ana Ivanovic, who had previously won seven times in a match against the Ukrainian.
At Wimbledon 2016, the athlete finished her performance in the second round, losing to Yaroslava Shvedova.
On August 9, during the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, in the match of the third round, Svitolina defeated the first racket of the world Serena Williams with a score of 6:4, 6:3 and reached the quarterfinals. There she lost to Petra Kvitova, losing in 48 minutes with a score of 2:6, 0:6.
She finished the season at the WTA Elite Trophy tournament, where she reached the final, but lost in the decisive match to Petra Kvitova.
At the beginning of 2017, she successfully performed at the WTA Premier tournament held in Brisbane. There she managed to make it to the semifinals, defeating Olympic champion from Puerto Rico Monica Puig, as well as world number one Angelique Kerber from Germany.
At the Australian Open, which was held in the same year, Svitolina defeated Galina Voskoboeva and Julia Boserup, but was defeated by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the third round.
In early February, the tennis player won the WTA Taiwan Open tournament. In the same month, she won her first WTA Premier 5 title – at a tournament in Dubai.
In the final of the Dubai Tennis Championships, Svitolina beat Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-2. The victory brought her 900 ranking points and raised her to 10th place in the WTA world ranking – the highest achievement in the history of women’s tennis in Ukraine at that time.
At the end of 2018, she won the final WTA Championship. She became the first Ukrainian tennis player who managed to triumph at this tournament. Thanks to this, she ended the year in fourth place in the WTA ranking.
The 2019 season started badly for her. At the tournament in Brisbane, Elina could not defend her title – in the first round she lost to Alexandra Sasnovich from Belarus, who was a finalist of the previous year’s tournament.
In 2019, Svitolina reached the semifinals of the tournament for the second time in a row, this time at the competition in Indian Wells. In a three-set match, she lost to 18-year-old Canadian tennis player Bianca Andreescu, who later won the title of champion of the tournament.
In July of the same year, it was made to the quarterfinals of Wimbledon, and then to the semifinal stage.
On March 8, 2020, Svitolina won the tournament in Monterrey. Later, on July 17 of the same year, she won an exhibition mini-tournament held in Berlin.
2021 – 2022
During the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021, she won a bronze medal, defeating the representative of Kazakhstan Elena Rybakina in the match for third place with a score of 1:6, 7:6, 6:4.
In 2022, she took a break from her career due to pregnancy.
Marital Status
On July 16, 2021, Svitolina married French tennis player Gael Monfils and took his last name after the wedding.
On October 15, 2022, the couple had a daughter.
