Google News Elina Svitolina: "I want to go back to my grandmother and see my family"
by LORENZO CIOTTI | VIEW 22813
Elina Svitolina has decided to take a break after recovering from two bad defeats on her debut at the Masters 1000 in Indian Wells and Miami. The Ukrainian player inevitably feels the weight of the war waged by Russia against her country and she is no longer able to express her talent on the court.
Svitolina immediately exposed herself in the first person and fearlessly condemned the Russian attack, but she too revealed that she was experiencing the worst moment of her life.
Elina Svitolina: "I want to go back to my grandmother and see my family"
In an exclusive interview with Sky Sport, the current number 29 of the WTA ranking explained: "It has been a mentally intense two months.
A lot is happening to me and to Ukraine, where my family still lives. This is why I decided to take a break and rest. There were rumors about the possibility of a war, but until the last moment no one believed that it would really break out.
Even now, I can't even imagine 90% of what's really going on, what the children, the women, everyone are going through. It's terrible to live in a world where you don't know if you'll wake up alive the next day. In the first round of the war, when I realized what was happening in my country, it was difficult for me to think of sharing the field with a Russian player.
There were too many connections. In Russia, sport is an important thing, a means of propaganda. So I had to do something, I couldn't take the court without doing anything for my country. Seeing the way soldiers and civilians defend Ukraine prompted me to make that statement.
We are talking to the WTA, ATP and ITF to ask for more positions on their part. As Wimbledon did, we Ukrainians support their decision. Mentally it was a very complicated period, in some matches I wasn't as strong as I would have liked.
I was very tired and felt different emotions. It was time to stop and take my time. To be able to return in a better version, even mental. I live day by day, for now I focus only on my foundation and my family. I pray the war is over and I can go home.
I pray for peace, I want to go back to my grandmother, to see my family. I want the war to stop destroying my country."