Svitolina: When there is the slightest chance against a top player, you need to use it. Unfortunately, I couldn’t do it in the third set

Ukrainian tennis player Elina Svitolina shared her emotions after being eliminated from the singles tennis tournament Olympic Games 2024 from Barbora Krejcikova from the Czech Republic.

“I’m very upset, what can I say here, I can’t add anything else. She was a very tough opponent. It’s very hard to recover from yesterday. But she fought.”

“She is a tough opponent. I expected her to come back into the match, find some moments that would help her. She started playing better – and we started a very tough game. The set was 7:6. I couldn’t get an advantage, unfortunately. But the match seemed very tough. I could use my chances in some places, but unfortunately I couldn’t serve the way I wanted in the third set.”

“I felt very tired even before the match. I did what I could. Yesterday was a very emotional match. We were in the same conditions, it was hot for everyone. But she played a slightly easier match than me. Yesterday I only managed to fall asleep at two in the morning. There was not much time to recover. But I tried to give it my all. Unfortunately, it was not enough.”

“When you play against a top player, she’s a top 10 player, she won Wimbledon a few weeks ago. It’s a very tough match. When you have little chances against a top player, you have to take them. Unfortunately, I couldn’t take my chances in the third set.”

“How do I feel physically? What can I say now? There are some things that worry me. I need to work on that.”

“Did it put pressure on me that I was a medalist at the last Olympics? No, there was no pressure about that at all. For me, the Olympics are completely separate, so I don’t care about the pressure. But the fact that I got a medal in Tokyo even gave me more confidence that I could get another one. So there was no pressure here.”

Let us recall that in the 1/8 final match against the recent Wimbledon champion, Elina led 3:0 in the first set, but lost the advantage, after which she allowed her opponent to similarly recoup in the tie-break (5:7). In the second set, Elina took a convincing revenge (6:2), but the decisive set still went to Krejcikova (4:6).

Earlier, Svitolina beat Japanese Moyuki Uchijima and American Jessica Pegula (seeded fifth) at the 2024 Olympics. At the previous Olympics in Tokyo, Elina won a bronze medal.

The only Ukrainian to reach the quarterfinals of the Paris Olympics in singles was Marta Kostyuk. Today, the number one racket of Ukraine in a strong-willed style defeated the seventh seeded, Greek Maria Sakkari. Marta will fight Donna Vekic from Croatia for the right to reach the semifinals.

In addition, Kostyuk and Dayana Yastremska reached the second round of the doubles. Today they were supposed to play against Xie Shuwei and Chia-Yi Cao from Taiwan. Lyudmila and Nadezhda Kichenok also made it to this stage.