Elina Svitolina: Who is the Ukrainian 4th seed who could win Wimbledon 2017?
UKRAINIAN heartthrob and tennis star Elina Svitolina will prove her merit on the Wimbledon courts this week. But who is the promising tennis player and what is her WTA ranking?
Elina Svitolina and Dominika Cibulkova train at Wimbledon
After a spectacular victory of 7 – 5 and 7 – 6 against Australian Ashleigh Barty, Svitolina is set to dominate the court on Wednesday.
The 22-year-old tennis pro joined the ranks of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) in 2010 when she won the French Open girls’ event at the age of 15.
Prior to this she has been playing on the International Tennis Federation (ITF) circuit in Ukraine since 2008.
She was introduced to the sport by her family at the young age of five.
Svitolina is currently one of the top female players in the world and is ranked fifth in the singles ranking – her career’s best score so far.
Unfortunately the right-handed player does not fare as well in the doubles, and is ranked 240th. Her career-high raking is 108th.
To date she carries eight WTA singles titles as well as a WTA 125K trophy from the challenger series. Outside of the WTA she also carries several ITF trophies.
Svitolina has yet to win a Grand Slam tournament but she can already boast victories over previous winners such as Serena Williams and Angelique Kerber.
One factor playing against her is her poor record with the Wimbledon tournament, but if she defeats Jelena Ostapenko in the fourth round, she could open up a path towards victory.
I spotted him straight away. It wasn’t difficult. He is two metres tall and very strong
The grass courts of Wimbledon could prove another obstacle, considering her favourite surfaces are clay and hard courts, but she could make up for it with a more aggressive gameplay.
In 2013 Svitolina appeared in the Australian Open for the very first time but was wiped out in the second round by fifth seed Angelique Kerber.
However that same year she won the 2013 Baku Cup and was the first teenager to win a WTA tournament since February 2012. The win also gave her a 32 spot boost in the rankings, landing her in 49th place.
Last year she proved her worth when defeating Serena Williams at the 2016 Rio Olympics, but eventually lost to bronze medalist Petra Kvitová.
Kvitová proved to be a worthy open once again when she failed to overcome the Czech tennis player in the 2016 US Open.
She ended the season on an impressive note as the fourth seed in the 2016 WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai, China, and a 13 – 5 win to loss record.
Outside of tennis, the Ukrainian athlete is known for dating English cricketer Reece Tophey.
The two met in a London gym ahead of a tournament in Montreal and it was almost like love at first sight.
“I spotted him straight away,” she told The Times. “It wasn’t difficult. He is two metres tall and very strong.
“I was very focused on my training and then I saw him in the restaurant afterwards.”
She currently lives in Kharkiv, in Ukraine, which is a three hour flight away from her hometown of Odessa.
The Klitschko brothers are among her most admired athletes and Eminem is her favourite artist. Some of her hobbies include diving, wakeboarding and reading.