It’s hard not to be in awe of Elina Svitolina. Nine months after giving birth to her daughter, she is into a first Wimbledon semi-final.
She only returned to the WTA Tour in April, quickly won a first tournament, reached the quarter-finals of the French Open and has now gone one better here.
And all this has played out not just with motherhood to contend with but the ongoing invasion of her country Ukraine.
On Centre Court on Tuesday, she found herself locked in a pulsating battle with one of the most outspoken players against the war on tour in world No1 Iga Swiatek, sporting a Ukrainian flag ribbon on her white cap in solidarity as she has done all season long.
In contrast to the aftermath of Svitolina’s last match against Belarus’ Victoria Azarenka, which was even tighter and more tense, there was a warm embrace and smile at the net following a deserving 7-5, 6-7, 6-2 victory. The Azarenka match, she said, was the best thing to have happened to her bar the birth of Skai, this win over the dominant player in women’s tennis is surely another highlight.
In winning, Svitolina is the first wildcard to reach a Wimbledon semi-final since Sabine Lisicki in 2011. And afterwards, she said her first goal was to mark the win with a cold beer.
“If someone had told me before I’d be in a semi-final and beating the world No1 I’d say they were crazy,” she said. “I don’t really know what’s happening in my head right now. It’s just really unbelievable. I’m really really happy that I got this chance to play here again. It was not easy to play against Iga. She is always fighting. I’m really happy I could win this one.”
Early on, the tennis wasn’t always of the highest quality but it was absorbing throughout and grew in both the standard and stress levels from both players. Swiatek came out of the blocks much the quicker, aggressive from the outset to break immediately and take a 2-0 lead.
For two such strong defensive players it was bizarre that the opening set had just five break points, all of which were converted – three to Svitolina and one to Swiatek.
Crucially, Svitolina led for the first time in the match at 6-5 and, for a third straight game, Swiatek found herself 0-30 down on her serve. Then Svitolina quickly had with three break points and, when her opponent’s volley went wide, somehow a captivating set, which could have gone either way, was won.
In the aftermath, Swiatek looked up at her box in bemusement and sought lengthy counsel from her psychologist Daria Abramowicz while the roof was closed with the threat of rain, which arrived soon afterwards. The message seemed to be to focus and not worry about other distractions.
Whatever the message, it didn’t immediately have the desired effect as Svitolina held her opening service game of the set to love, by which point she had won 20 of the last 22 points.
Just as impressively, she had just won 19 of 21 points on serve – the only blemishes two double faults – indicating she might run away with the match. But on her next point she had an easy put away to an empty court at 40-0, nonchalantly found the net and somehow went on to lose that game.
The Ukrainian broke back and eventually took a 6-5 lead thanks to a delightful passing shot but, had Swiatek challenged her second serve (incorrectly called in), the score would have gone back to deuce.
The world No1 was not made to regret that decision despite conceding the first mini break of the tiebreak and at one point dropping 4-1 behind. In a tight shoot-out, a long ball by Svitolina ensured the match was going to a decider.
The match hinged on who blinked first. As it happened, it was Swiatek on two occasions, giving her rival the double break and enabling her to serve out the match.
It was at Wimbledon where Swiatek’s 37-match winning streak ended last season and, while this her best run on the grass, she has still not entirely mastered it.
Despite heading home, she had praise heaped on her by her vanquisher. “Iga is not only a great champion abut an unbelievable person,” she said. “She was one of the first person that really helped the Ukrainian people and it was a huge help for Ukraine.”
