Ukrainian tennis player Elina Svitolina admitted she doesn’t have much desire now to pick up a racket and play tennis as she is focused on helping Ukraine as much as she can during the darkest days for her country.
The past four months have been extremely difficult for Svitolina and she hasn’t played since Miami.
Last week, Svitolina was announced as the new ambassador for charitable platform United24.
The United24 platform has the goal of raising funds for Ukraine and Svitolina is fully committed to helping her country as much as she can.
“Right now there is no desire in me to pick up a tennis racket again. As soon as the war began on February 24, it was very difficult for me to be on court and play, while watching what all the Ukrainians and those people who defend our country are going through. Therefore, this is now a great motivation to help and try to do something for Ukraine, which has given me a lot,” Svitolina said.
🗨️ “Right now there is no desire in me to pick up a tennis racquet again. Now all my efforts are focused on a @U24_gov_ua platform & the ways how I can help Ukraine. We plan to hold charity matches, auctions and various meetings with sponsors to raise funds”.
🇺🇦@ElinaSvitolina https://t.co/eU3F3rE1m0
— Ukrainian Tennis 🎾 ENG (@ukrtennis_eng) June 10, 2022
Svitolina: We will try to raise funds to help Ukraine
Thanks to the United24 platform, we will try to raise funds to help Ukraine,” Svitolina added. “This is the biggest task for Andriy Shevchenko and me at the moment, to do everything possible so that the world does not forget about the war, so there is as much attention as possible to Ukraine, so people do not forget about us and understand that we need help more than ever. To raise funds, we have planned 5-6 events before the end of the year. These are charity matches, auctions, various meetings with sponsors. With such events, as, for example, Andriy Shevchenko held yesterday, we remind you that we still have a war going on, we are in a state where we need help. With such events, which are also planned on my part, we will try to show what is happening and how these people can help us.”
Last month, Svitolina and her husband Gael Monfils announced they’re expecting a baby girl in October.
Svitolina will likely return to action at some point in 2023.