Svitolina: Every time I step on the court, I represent not only myself, but also my country

Ukrainian tennis player Elina Svitolina spoke about her preparation for Olympics 2024. According to Elina, the key factor in preparation is psychology, since representing your country at such a large-scale tournament is a big responsibility.

“I am very happy that I have the opportunity to get to and compete in the Olympics during such a difficult time for our country. I hope that I will be able to prepare, because there were a lot of competitions during the season, and the Olympics is one of them. That is, every week we have tournaments in which we compete and we need time to prepare. After Wimbledon, I rested a little, because I had problems with my back. Now I am already training, I will go to Paris in a few days to prepare and perform well. I hope that everything will be fine and I will feel normal.”

“You have to devote a lot of time to psychological preparation. This is very important for me, because a lot of bad things happen in Ukraine every day. You have to prepare yourself every day. I have my routine, which I do every day, but it is very difficult to predict anything. You have to prepare yourself every day for work, for what you can control, for your psychological state, so that you have the opportunity to work. You have to give 100% to the work that you do every day for professional sports. It is difficult. It is very difficult for all athletes, for each of us, for every Ukrainian.”

“I always remind myself that we have girls and boys defending our country at the front, it’s ten times harder for them. Playing somewhere is a chance for me to prove myself as a Ukrainian, so that people watch and root for me, root for Ukraine. Every time I go out, I represent not only myself, but also my country. And for me it’s very important to achieve these small victories, but perhaps they are also great. I want every day to be filled with pleasant moments of our country.”

Let us recall that the best achievement of Ukrainian tennis players at the Olympics is Elina Svitolina’s bronze medal in Tokyo 2020. Elina, as well as the Kichenok sisters, performed at the Games twice. Lesia Tsurenko and Dayana Yastremska have one performance each.

In early June, Marta Kostyuk, Elina Svitolina and Dayana Yastremska confirmed their participation in the Paris Olympics in singles. Some time later, Angelina Kalinina’s license was confirmed.

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has approved the participation of two women’s duets from Ukraine in the doubles at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The previously confirmed sisters Lyudmila and Nadiya Kichenok have been officially joined by another tandem in the form of Marta Kostyuk and Dayana Yastremska.