Elina Svitolina

Since 2019, Svitolina has been in a relationship with ATP tennis player Gaël Monfils.

Svitolina has won 14 WTA singles titles, including the 2018 WTA Finals and three of five Premier 5-level tournaments in 2017: the Dubai Tennis Championships, the Italian Open, and the Canadian Open. At the 2015 French Open she reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, where she was defeated by former champion Ana Ivanovic. In February 2017, after winning the title in Dubai, Svitolina became the first Ukrainian woman to break into the top-10 rankings. Svitolina would finally reach her first Grand Slam semifinal at the 2019 Wimbledon Championships and followed it up with a second consecutive semifinal at the 2019 US Open.

Svitolina began her 2018 season by capturing the Brisbane International title, defeating qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the final. She then competed at the Australian Open as the fourth seed. She faced qualifier Ivana Jorović and won in straight sets. Against Kateřina Siniaková, Svitolina prevailed in three sets. She then had two straight-sets wins over qualifier and compatriot Marta Kostyuk and Denisa Allertová to advance to her first Australian Open quarterfinal where she was upset by Belgian Elise Mertens in straight sets.

Svitolina's grass-court season was significantly less successful, losing in three sets in the second round of Eastbourne to Heather Watson. As the 17th seed at Wimbledon, she came from a set down to beat Misaki Doi, who had beaten her at the same stage the previous year, before again losing in the second round to Australian Casey Dellacqua. Despite losing in the first round of İstanbul to Magdaléna Rybáriková, Svitolina successfully defended her doubles title from the previous year, this time partnering Daria Gavrilova.

At the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, 17th-seed Svitolina defeated Annika Beck, before losing in straight sets to ninth-seed Roberta Vinci. Then, in Miami, after defeating Australian Open quarterfinalist Zhang Shuai, Svitolina scored one of the biggest victories of her career, coming from a break down in the third set to defeat former WTA number one, Caroline Wozniacki, in three sets in the third round. Svitolina subsequently lost in the fourth round to Ekaterina Makarova, who beat her at the same tournament the prior year.

Svitolina began her 2017 season with a strong showing in Brisbane, defeating world No. 1, Angelique Kerber, in the quarterfinals, before losing to eventual champion Karolína Plíšková in the following round. The victory over Kerber signified her third win over a number-one-ranked player in five months. Svitolina was seeded 11th at the Australian Open, her highest seeding to date. She equalled her best showing in Melbourne, reaching the third round with victories over Galina Voskoboeva and Julia Boserup, before losing to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Seeded sixth at the Australian Open, she defeated qualifier Viktorija Golubic, Viktória Kužmová, Zhang Shuai, and 17th seed Madison Keys to make her second consecutive quarterfinal at the Australian Open. She was, however, afflicted by a neck and shoulder injury and was defeated by fourth seed and eventual champion Naomi Osaka in straight sets. Svitolina then reached back-to-back semifinals in Doha, losing with the lead in the final set against Simona Halep, and Dubai, where she was the two-time defending champion, losing in a third-set tiebreak to eventual champion Belinda Bencic.

She began U.S. hard-court season with a run to the semifinals in Stanford, losing in straight sets to eventual champion Angelique Kerber. At the Rogers Cup, Svitolina lost in the first round to Victoria Azarenka. She bettered her performance from the previous year in Cincinnati, defeating Alison Riske, Eugenie Bouchard and Caroline Garcia to reach the quarterfinals, before defeating Lucie Šafářová for the second time this year to progress to her second Premier-5 semifinal, where she lost to Serena Williams. Svitolina concluded her warm up for the US Open in New Haven, where she retired from her first-round match against Madison Keys. She progressed to the third round of the US Open, defeating Elizaveta Kulichkova and Kaia Kanepi, before losing to 13th seed Ekaterina Makarova for the third time this year.

Svitolina reached her third consecutive semifinal of the year at Indian Wells. In her first Premier Mandatory semifinal since 2016, she lost in three sets to 18-year-old wildcard and eventual champion Bianca Andreescu. The next week at the Miami Open, she suffered a surprise defeat in her opening match against Wang Yafan. Svitolina later revealed that she had been struggling with knee pain for several weeks and announced she would take a short break to recover.

Svitolina's clay-court season began with back-to-back opening round losses to Pauline Parmentier in Madrid and to Victoria Azarenka in Rome, where she was the two-time defending champion and had held a match point leading in the final set. At the French Open, Svitolina was defeated in the third round by the 2016 champion, Garbiñe Muguruza.

Svitolina has a complete baseline game and is mostly a defensive player. She can turn defense into offense when given the chance. Her groundstrokes are very consistent and are hit with moderate-to-big power. Her backhand is her stronger side, especially down the line and on the run, but both her groundstrokes penetrate the court well. She demonstrates good movement around the court and can hit very accurate shots on the run. Her serve improved in 2016 and 2017, and she became one of the leaders of service points won in 2018. She has been known to struggle with volleying at the net, but has good reactions and can accelerate well across the court to deal with short balls. Her favourite surfaces are grass and clay.

Svitolina has scored victories over Grand Slam champions Ana Ivanovic, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Angelique Kerber, Garbiñe Muguruza, Caroline Wozniacki, Simona Halep, Naomi Osaka, Petra Kvitová, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Francesca Schiavone, Flavia Pennetta, Sloane Stephens, and Ashleigh Barty. Her first top-10 win came over Kvitová in 2014 at the Cincinnati Open, where she reached her first semifinal at a Premier 5 tournament. She also has six wins over a world No. 1 to her name, three over Kerber, two over Halep and one over Serena Williams. In doubles, Svitolina has won two titles, both at the İstanbul Cup, in 2014 and 2015. Her career-high ranking in doubles play is world No. 108, which she reached on 4 May 2015.

At her first tournament of the year in Brisbane, Svitolina lost in the first round to Danielle Collins in straight sets. At the Australian Open, Svitolina defeated Katie Boulter and Lauren Davis, before falling to eventual runner-up Garbiñe Muguruza. Svitolina's slow start to the season continued, being upset in the quarterfinals of Hua Hin by Nao Hibino, and in the first round of both Dubai by Jennifer Brady and Doha by Amanda Anisimova. She rebounded at the Monterrey Open, capturing her 14th singles title by defeating Marie Bouzková in the final.

Svitolina gained direct entry into the Australian Open, where she was defeated by fifth seed Angelique Kerber in the first round. She won her first WTA title at the Baku Cup by beating Shahar Pe'er; in doing so, Svitolina became the first teenager to win a WTA tournament since February 2012. The victory also translated into a jump of 32 spots in the WTA rankings, landing her at No. 49 on 29 July 2013.

She continued her successful start to the clay-court season by winning her third career title and first on clay in Marrakech, recovering from 2–5 down in the opening set to defeat Tímea Babos in straight sets. The victory propelled her to a career high ranking of 21. She also reached the semifinals in doubles with compatriot Olga Savchuk. The following week in Madrid, after easily dispatching Daniela Hantuchová, Svitolina lost to Ana Ivanovic for the sixth time in her career. A similar scenario occurred in Rome, where she defeated Flavia Pennetta in straight sets before losing to Venus Williams.

At the French Open, after comfortably seeing off Yanina Wickmayer in her opening match, Svitolina had to recover from 0–3 in the second set and 1–4 in the final set to beat Yulia Putintseva in a match that lasted over three hours. Another tight three-set victory ensued in the third round against Annika Beck, before Svitolina defeated Alizé Cornet in a rain-interrupted fourth-round encounter to set up a maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal against seventh seed Ana Ivanovic, which she lost in straight sets. Svitolina rose to No. 17 after this tournament, surpassing Alona Bondarenko as the highest-ranked Ukrainian woman in the Open Era, including women from Ukraine who played under the Soviet Union.

Svitolina began her season at the Hopman Cup, representing Ukraine with Alexandr Dolgopolov. She was undefeated in her singles matches in the round robin stage, defeating Victoria Duval, Karolína Plíšková, and Jarmila Wolfe. Svitolina and Dolgopolov were the winners of their group, and advanced to the final, where the Australian pairing of Nick Kyrgios and Daria Gavrilova defeated them 2–0, with Svitolina losing her singles match in straight sets. At the Sydney International, Svitolina lost in the first round to Angelique Kerber. In Melbourne, she defeated Victoria Duval in straight sets, before losing qualifier Naomi Osaka in the second round.

Svitolina concluded her season as the fourth seed in Zhuhai. She topped her group by defeating Kiki Bertens and Elena Vesnina, and then came from a set down to defeat top seed Johanna Konta in the semifinals to advance to her third final of the year, where she lost to Kvitová. Svitolina finished the season ranked 14th, with an impressive 13–5 win-loss record following the US Open.

She began the clay-court season by capturing her third title of the year in İstanbul. Rebounding from a disappointing loss to Zheng Saisai in the first round of Madrid, Svitolina then proceeded to reach her second Premier-5-level final of the year, and fourth overall, in Rome. After defeating two top-5 players en route in Karolína Plíšková and Garbiñe Muguruza, she faced off against Simona Halep, whom she defeated in three sets to claim the title. The win propelled her to a career high of No. 6 in the singles rankings, as well as to the top spot in the Race to Singapore. She then started her campaign at the French Open as one of the favourites to win the tournament. Svitolina progressed through her first three matches with relative ease, defeating Yaroslava Shvedova, Tsvetana Pironkova and Magda Linette respectively. Svitolina then overcame qualifier Petra Martić in a tight three set encounter to advance to her second major quarterfinal. She faced Simona Halep in a rematch of the Italian Open final. Svitolina led by a set and 5–1 and held a match point against the 2014 finalist, but lost in three sets (the third set at love).

At Wimbledon, she surpassed her previous performances by reaching the fourth round, defeating Birmingham finalist and potential dark horse Ashleigh Barty in the first round. She then eased past Francesca Schiavone and Carina Witthöft, before bowing out to 13th seed and French Open champion Jeļena Ostapenko in straight sets.

Svitolina's struggles with form continued into the Asian swing, with back-to-back opening round losses to eventual champion Aryna Sabalenka in Wuhan, and Aleksandra Krunić in Beijing, despite opening up a 6–0, 3–0 lead in the latter match. A quarterfinal defeat in Hong Kong to in-form Wang Qiang, coupled with Svitolina's decision not to play in the final week of the year at either Moscow or Luxembourg City, meant that qualification for the WTA Finals in Singapore would rest on the performances of Karolína Plíšková and Kiki Bertens in Moscow. Plíšková's defeat in the second round ensured that Svitolina would qualify for Singapore for the second successive year.

Svitolina reached three consecutive quarterfinals in the season-closing Asian swing, losing to Kristina Mladenovic in Zhengzhou, eventual runner-up Alison Riske in Wuhan, and Kiki Bertens in Beijing. Despite failing to reach a final during the season, Svitolina's overall consistency managed to secure her spot as the eighth seed at the WTA Finals in Shenzhen for the third successive year. She was drawn into the Purple Group alongside Karolína Plíšková, US Open champion Bianca Andreescu, who was later replaced by Sofia Kenin, and Wimbledon champion Simona Halep. Svitolina topped her group, winning all three matches without dropping a set. Her semi-final match against Belinda Bencic was cut short when Bencic retired with a leg injury down 4–1 in the final set, meaning that Svitolina would advance to the final for the second year in succession, as well as her first final since winning the title in 2018. She failed to defend her title, however, losing in straight sets to Ashleigh Barty. This meant Svitolina failed to win a title during the year for the first time since 2012.

Svitolina was coached by Sébastien Mathieu in 2013 and 2014. She then worked with Iain Hughes for two and a half years, and chose to split from him in November 2016. In February 2016, she added former world No. 1 Justine Henin to her coaching team. In late 2016, Svitolina announced that Gabriel Urpí would be her new coach, with Thierry Ascione replacing Henin as her new coaching consultant. Ascione coached Svitolina until the 2018 US Open, and she has since begun working with Nick Saviano, whilst still being accompanied on a weekly basis by hitting partner Andrew Bettles. Bettles became her full-time coach for the 2019 season, and former player Marcos Baghdatis began working with her for the 2020 season.

Svitolina's 11th career title came after a successful defence of her crown in Dubai, where she brushed aside Daria Kasatkina in the final. After losing to Carla Suárez Navarro in the third round of Indian Wells, she produced her best ever result in Miami, reaching the quarterfinals before falling to eventual runner-up Jeļena Ostapenko in straight sets.

Svitolina's greatest achievement as a junior was winning the French Open girls event in 2010, beating Tunisian Ons Jabeur in the final. She reached her first professional singles final at the $25,000 tournament in Kharkiv in May 2010. Svitolina also reached the final of the girls' singles event at the 2012 Wimbledon Championships, where she lost to Eugenie Bouchard. Svitolina qualified for the US Open. She was defeated in the first round by 12th seed and eventual quarterfinalist Ana Ivanovic. She won the WTA 125K Royal Indian Open title in Pune, defeating Andreja Klepač, Rutuja Bhosale, Luksika Kumkhum, former top 10 player Andrea Petkovic, and Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm in the final.

Elina Mykhailivna Svitolina (Ukrainian: Еліна Михайлівна Світоліна , pronounced [eˈl⁽ʲ⁾inɐ s⁽ʲ⁾wiˈtɔl⁽ʲ⁾inɐ] ; born 12 September 1994) is a Ukrainian tennis player. Having turned professional in 2010, she reached her career-high ranking of world No. 3 on 11 September 2017, and again on 9 September 2019.

As the 23rd seed in Indian Wells, she defeated Alison Van Uytvanck and Lucie Šafářová, before losing in the fourth round to Timea Bacsinszky. The following week in Miami, she defeated Bojana Jovanovski before losing in the third round to the eighth seed Ekaterina Makarova. As the top seed at a tournament for the first time in Bogotá, Svitolina reached the semifinals, defeating Louisa Chirico, Danka Kovinić and Irina Falconi, before losing to eventual champion Teliana Pereira.