The 2023 French Open has been highlighted by Elina Svitolina. Svitolina made a stunning comeback to the sport on her preferred surface as she reached her fourth quarterfinal at the French Open after missing her previous four Grand Slams due to the birth of her first child. But for her, the storyline remained the same.
The Ukrainian star stumbled in a straight-set loss after facing a strong Aryna Sabalenka in the last-eight match on Tuesday at Stade Roland Garros.
But while Elina Svitolina can only draw more inspiration from her stunning run in Paris, she would definitely want to forget the eventual end, pertaining to act from Sabalenka and the French Open crowd.
“Waiting at the net”
Speaking to the media after the match, the world no. 192 slammed Sabalenka for her “waiting at the net” act and opined that it led the crowd to boo her off.
“I don’t know what she was waiting for at the net, because my statements were clear enough about the handshake. I was expecting boos, it was not a surprise for me. Did she inflame the situation in the stands with this? Unfortunately, I think so,” she said.
Before the match against Sabalenka, Svitolina, who had donated her prize money to Ukrainian children’s charities after lifting the title in Strasbourg, her first title win since 2021, had spoken about fighting for her country.
“For me when I step on the court, I just try to think about the fighting spirit that all of us Ukrainians have and how Ukrainians are fighting for their values, for their freedom in Ukraine. And me, I’m fighting here on my own frontline. I cannot be sad. I cannot be distracted in some ways. I’m just going to lose, you know. So that’s why I remember when the war started, I was in Mexico in Monterrey, and I was very, very sad. I almost cried when I entered the court. I had, like, really heaviness in me,” she had said