Ukrainian tennis babe Elina Svitolina

Elina Svitolina is a Ukrainian professional tennis player, who reached career-high rankings of the world’s No 3 in singles. She has won 17 WTA Tour singles titles and finished runner-up three times. She is a two-time semi-finalist at Wimbledon and once at the US Open.

Elina Svitolina was born on September 12, 1994, in Odesa, Ukraine. She started playing tennis at the age of five. She showed great talent and won the French Open girls tournament in 2010 and also was the runner-up at the Junior Wimbledon in 2012.

Elina Svitolina made her professional debut in 2008 at the $10,000 Kharkiv (Ukraine), reaching the second round. During the next season, she also competed at some ITF senior tournaments but played mostly in the junior tour.

In 2010, Elina Svitolina played her first senior final at the $25,000 Kharkiv (Ukraine), but lost to her compatriot Lyudmyla Kichenok. However, during the season she won the Junion French Open / Roland Garros and Gerry Weber Junior Open.

In 2011, Elina Svitolina won her first senior title, triumphing at the $10,000 Istanbul (Turkey). By the end of the season, she also won $25,000 W25 Lagos (Nigeria) and was the runner-up at the $50,000 Tyumen (Russia).

Elina Svitolina continued being one of the top tennis talents in 2012, winning the titles at the $25,000 La Marsa (Tunisia) and $50,000 Telavi (Georgia). She also won her first WTA Challenger title, triumphing with the WTA 125 The Royal Indian Open. Such great performance climbed her to the world’s No 112 at the end of the season.

In 2013, Elina Svitolina debuted at the WTA Tour, reaching the second round of the WTA 250 Shenzhen Longgang Gemdale Open. During the season she won also her first WTA title at the WTA 250 Baku Cup. Meanwhile, she won the titles at the $75,000 Eilat (Israel) and $75,000 Donetsk (Ukraine), but reached the second rounds of the US Open and French Open / Roland Garros. Thus, she climbed into the world’s Top 50, finishing the season as the world’s No 45.

In 2014, Elina Svitolina proved to be one of the top tennis players. During the season she defended her title at the WTA 250 Baku Cup, but also reached the semi-finals of the WTA 1000 Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open and the quarter-finals of the WTA 1000 Western & Southern Open. She also made a great achievement in the WTA 1000 Miami Open, reaching the fourth round, while at the Grand Slam tournaments reached the third round of the Australian Open and the second round of the French Open / Roland Garros. So at the end of the season, the Ukrainian tennis player finished as the world’s No 28.

Elina Svitolina started strongly in the 2015 season, reaching the semi-finals of the WTA 500 Brisbane International and the third round of the Australian Open. She reached the semi-finals of the WTA 250 Copa Colsanitas presented by Zurich, before triumphing with the title at the WTA 250 GP de SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem. Elina Svitolina reached the quarter-finals of the French Open / Roland Garros, as well as the semi-finals of the WTA 500 Bank of the West Classic and WTA 1000 Western & Southern Open. Thus, she continued climbing at the world’s ranking and finished the season as the world’s No 19.

In 2016, Elina Svitolina won the title at the WTA 250 BMW Malaysian Open and also was the runner-up at the WTA 500 Connecticut Open. She reached the semi-finals of the WTA 500 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, WTA 500 Toray Pan Pacific Open Tennis, and WTA 1000 China Open, as well as the quarter-finals of the Rio 2016 Olympics. She finished the season as the world’s No 14 and by luck qualified for the WTA Year End Championships, where finished as a runner-up.

In 2017, Elina Svitolina made her most successful season, triumphing at the WTA 250 Taiwan Open, WTA 1000 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, WTA 250 TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup, WTA 1000 Rome Open, WTA 1000 Canadian Open. She also reached the quarter-finals of the French Open / Roland Garros and the 4th round of Wimbledon and the US Open. She played at the WTA Year End Championships but dropped out in the groups’ stage. During the season she reached her career-high WTA ranking of world’s No 3, but finished the season as world’s No 6.

Elina Svitolina continued with her amazing performance in 2018, winning the titles at the WTA 500 Brisbane International, WTA 500 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, and WTA 1000 Rome Open, as well as reaching the semi-finals of the WTA 1000 Canadian Open and the quarter-finals of the Australian Open and WTA 1000 Miami Open. She again played at the WTA Year End Championships and won the title. Thus, she finished the season as the world’s No 4.

In 2019, Elina Svitolina started the season strongly reaching the quarter-finals of the Australian Open ad the semi-finals of the WTA 1000 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and WTA 1000 Indian Wells Open. The good start was followed by a bad series at the next Masters tournaments in Miami, Rome, and Madrid, losing in the first round, before gaining power again and reaching the semi-finals of Wimbledon and the US Open. Meanwhile, she also played in the quarter-finals of the WTA 1000 Canadian Open, WTA 1000 Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open, and WTA 1000 China Open. At the end of the season, she finished as the world’s No 7, qualifying for the Shiseido WTA Finals Shenzhen for the fourth consecutive season, finishing as a runner-up.

In 2020, Elina Svitolina won the WTA 250 Abierto GNP Seguros and WTA 250 Internationaux de Strasbourg but also reached the quarter-finals of the French Open / Roland Garros. The season was shorter due to the coronavirus pandemic, which seriously hampered the form of most players.

In 2021, Elina Svitolina started the season by reaching the quarter-finals of the WTA 500 Abu Dhabi WTA Women’s Tennis Open, WTA 500 Gippsland Trophy, and the fourth round of the Australian Open. She continued strongly by reaching the semi-finals of the WTA 1000 Miami Open and WTA 500 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart. During the summer, Elina Svitolina played at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where reached the semi-finals but lost to the runner-up Marketa Vondrousova (Czech Republic). She finished the season by winning the title at the WTA 250 WTA Chicago Women’s Open and reaching the quarter-finals of the US Open and WTA 500 Chicago Fall Tennis Classic. At the end of the season, she dropped out of the Top 10 and finished the season as world’s No 15.

In 2022, Elina Svitolina started the season weakly reaching the third round of the Australian Open and failing to record some significant success in the rest of the tournaments. In March, she announced that she was taking a temporary break from competition, citing health problems, but in May, confirmed the rumors that she was pregnant with her first child. She gave birth in October and took a few months to care for the child.

Elina Svitolina returned to professional tennis in April 2023. She returned at the WTA 500 Credit One Charleston Open but lost in the first round, before playing in the ITF tournaments $60,000 W60 Chiasso (Switzerland) and $100,000 W100 Oeiras (Portugal), but still was not in form and reached only the second round. After losing again in the first round of the WTA 1000 Madrid Open, she succeded in reaching the semi-finals of the WTA 125 L’Open 35 de Saint-Malo. In May, she was already in form and won her first title after maternity at the WTA 250 Internationaux de Strasbourg and also reached the quarter-finals of the French Open / Roland Garros and the semi-finals of Wimbledon.

Elina Svitolina photos