Ukrainian tennis star Elina Svitolina won’t be kicking off her clay season next week as she has withdrawn from Madrid and Rome.
Svitolina withdrawing from Madrid shouldn’t come as a surprise since she has never played in the Spanish capital.
Madrid update
OUT: Krejcikova, Svitolina
IN: Riske, Kalinina
NEXT: Konjuh
— Entry List Updates Women (@EntryListsWomen) April 24, 2022
Rome update
OUT: Svitolina
IN: Zhang
NEXT: Tomljanovic
— Entry List Updates Women (@EntryListsWomen) April 25, 2022
When it comes to Rome, it’s a totally different story as Svitolina has played in the Italian capital for the past eight years.
Svitolina, who made her Rome debut in 2014, is set to miss the tournament for the first time since debuting at the event.
Svitolina has had success in Rome throughout her career as she captured back-to-back Rome titles in 2017 and 2018.
Svitolina enjoyed solid Rome runs in 2020 and 2021, reaching back-to-back quarterfinals.
Svitolina took a break after Miami
Svitolina didn’t enjoy impressive runs in Indian Wells and Miami as she went winless in those two events.
After suffering surprise defeats to Harriet Dart in Indian Wells and Heather Watson in Miami, Svitolina announced a break from tennis.
“It’s been an extremely difficult couple of months for me, not only mentally but also physically,” Svitolina wrote on Instagram in late March. “For a quite long time I’ve been struggling with my back. The pain didn’t let me prepare for the tournaments at my best. Meanwhile, observing with unbearable pain in my heart what is happening in my homeland Ukraine and with how much bravery and courage our Ukrainian people are defending our country, this gave me a huge push to continue and fight on court. Now, my body can’t handle it anymore and I need to rest. Therefore, I’m sad to announce that I will be missing Fed Cup and few of my favorite tournaments in Europe. But I’m sure, I will see you around soon.”
Svitolina hasn’t played any clay events this year but she is sitll signed up for the French Open.