The 27-year-old, who is in regular touch with her family and friends in Ukraine, has taken a break from tennis to focus her efforts on raising funds and raising awareness about her country’s plight.
“I talk with my grandmother every day to know how she feels. It’s hard enough for her because it’s most important for elderly people to have a routine and right now, my hometown of Odessa has a lot of bombings and Shooting is going on.
“It’s important to keep in touch with her to support her in any way that I can.
“One of the most important things is also to keep their spirits up.”
United24
She moved to Kharkiv when she was 12 and says she felt helpless after witnessing the fierce battle that shook the eastern city.
At the age of 16, Svitolina left Ukraine to pursue her sporting ambitions but always had her country at her heart. She takes pride in her roots and smiles as she recalls the moments from her childhood that helped build such a strong bond with Ukraine.
Svitolina was recently named an ambassador and spoke to Zelensky, who tasked her with uniting the sports community and maintaining awareness.
Svitolina, speaking about the Zoom call with the president and her fellow ambassador, Ukrainian football great Andrey Shevchenko, said, “It was one of the moments I was most stressed, and even That even when I entered the tennis court, I wasn’t as stressed out.”
“But he was very kind and his speech was very inspiring […] It takes a lot of courage to do what he does.
“He just explained what Ukraine really needs these days and how he sees the situation in Ukraine right now. He is still very, very motivated and he loves Ukraine and he will die for our country.
“And this is certainly something that all Ukrainians are looking forward to for the kind of person who lays down his life for the country.”
It’s still early days, but Svitolina is already planning events in the tennis community for later this year and says the foundation has given her a clear purpose.
pregnancy
Some light has come amidst the darkness. Svitolina learned she was pregnant just before the attack began and is expecting a child with partner and fellow tennis player Gail Monfils.
Along with the mental fatigue caused by the attack, it took a break from the game he tried to continue playing.
“The first few months were pretty stressful but yeah, I’m feeling much better,” she said.
“Of course, I am still deeply saddened by the situation that is happening now and knowing how many people have lost their lives because of the invasion.
“It makes me so sad. And so I try, you know, to focus a little bit on my foundation, at United 24, just a mission that I can help anyway.”
While he has no motivation to return to tennis just yet, he has the long-term goal of representing his country at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
“It’s very important for people to have a different kind of information because, to be fair, I don’t 100% understand what’s really going on in Ukraine,” she said.
“It is very hard for people to go through hell every day. Those who are still in Ukraine are struggling mentally.
“Many, many things are happening and they’ve already done a lot, so I think to bring something different, it’s something that I think brings joy to them.”