Elina Svitolina has said she will celebrate with a beer, but not a Harry Styles concert, after beating world number one Iga Swiatek to reach the Wimbledon semi-finals.
The unseeded Ukrainian, who only gave birth to her daughter Skai nine months ago, had to wait almost 30 seconds for unrelenting applause to die down before starting her on-court interview.
The 28-year-old, when asked how she will spend the next day-and-a-half, told an appreciative audience: “First of all, I’m going to have a beer probably.”
Svitolina previously caught the attention of former One Direction member Styles after she revealed her tournament run meant she had to give away tickets to his concert.
Styles wrote to her on Instagram: “Congratulations! We have four shows to go, you’re welcome at any of them. Good luck with the rest of the tournament.”
Speaking to reporters after her win on Tuesday, she called the singer “very sweet” for reaching out to her and expressed hopes of attending a gig of his “one day”.
“I checked his upcoming concerts that’s left,” she said. “It depends how I’m going to do here, but looks like I might not make it in the end because obviously I want to go home to see my daughter as well.”
I think having a child, and war, made me a different person— Elina Svitolina
Svitolina had the press conference laughing when she described FaceTiming her daughter who was “distracted with her ice cream” after the match.
The Ukrainian also spoke candidly about how the war in her home country and being a new mother has changed her.
“I think war made me stronger and also made me, like, mentally stronger”, she said.
“Mentally I don’t take difficult situations as like a disaster, you know? There are worse things in life. I’m just more calmer. But I think having a child, and war, made me a different person.”
Asked what her win meant for her and for Ukraine, she said: “I know that lots of people back in Ukraine watching.
“I got really massive amount of messages from last round. I didn’t really check my phone yet today, but I think there will be a lot of messages, a lot of news.
“I’m happy I can bring little happiness to their life.
“There was many videos also on internet where the kids are watching on their phones. This really makes my heart melt seeing this.”
