Elina Svitolina admits she has been exceeding her own expectations so far in her post-pregnancy tennis comeback. Svitolina, 28, was out for 13 months before returning to pro tennis in April. Since then, Svitolina has won a WTA 250 title – made the Wimbledon semifinal – and also reached the quarterfinal at the French Open. Svitolina, who was ranked outside the top-1000 when she returned to tennis, has since rocketed to No 26 in the world. At the US Open, Svitolina didn’t make a really deep run but she still made the third round before world No 3 Jessica Pegula handed her a 6-4 4-6 6-2 loss. “Well, to be fair, my goal was to enter top 100 when I started playing in March (smiling). But in the end I also didn’t expect for myself such a high level at Wimbledon. Roland Garros, as well, played really solid. In general, I’m very happy with the tournaments that I played, and with the season, I’m close to top 20, to come back. Yeah, I’m taking a lot of positives from this,” Svitolina said.
Elina Svitolina© Getty Images Sport – Matthew Stockman
Svitolina feels she can further improve her level
Svitolina, a former world No 3, has had some very notable wins since returning to tennis as a mother. Most notably, Svitolina beat world No 1 Iga Swiatek at Wimbledon. But after beating Swiatek in the Wimbledon quarterfinal, Svitolina suffered a very disappointing 3-6 3-6 loss to Marketa Vondrousova in the semifinal. “There are some matches, of course, disappointed, and I wish I could play better, like the semi-final Wimbledon, today. Today little bit different situation. Physically I couldn’t push more. Again, in Washington against Jess, it was closer match there. So couple of matches here and there I wish I could play better,” Svitolina said. After exiting the US Open, Svitolina revealed she now plans to take some time off to rest and recover.