By Chris Oddo | Monday March 11, 2019
Elina Svitolina is turning over every rock in her quest to achieve Grand Slam glory.
Some people opine that Elina Svitolina is overrated, a not-quite elite overachiever that has carved out an unlikely sliver at the top of the women’s game, but I’d argue the opposite. The World No.6 has the potential to win a major and be No.1 in the world, and she hasn’t cracked her ceiling just yet.
Why?
It’s the mentality.
Forget footwork, backhands and forehands, if you will, for a moment, and focus on the most underrated tennis tool—the mind. Svitolina’s on par with the very best in this department and if you plop yourself down with some popcorn and watch her over the course of a tournament (or even a set) you’ll see why.
The walk a returner makes after a botched return is known by some as a walk of shame. When a player makes this walk, observers can pick up on clues about the player’s mental makeup. Is there fragility? A tendency to melt down and let bad points cling to the mind like barnacles on blue whales?
Not with Svitolina.
For the Ukrainian there is just a cool, calming reset—a moment of repose so badly needed when one is stranded in a sea of tennis doubt. Sit courtside at a Svitolina match and feel the tension wash away as her antennae dials in the proper frequency to confront the next challenge.
This “emotional scan” is an art perfected by so few tennis players but in Svitolina’s case it is a necessary element and perhaps the most compelling aspect of who she is on a tennis court.
It’s a thing of beauty. Part determination, part professionalism, Svitolina is the ultimate pragmatist of the WTA Tour.
“It’s amazing when I became friends with Elina I was really shocked in a good way how focused she is on every single practice she does and every single ball she plays,” says Olga Savchuk, a 14-year pro from the Ukraine that became good friends with Svitolina. “Either it’s going to the gym or it’s eating—everything is about being better in tennis, so all her day is like everything goes to be better in tennis, so it’s just inspiring.”
Growing up she wanted to impress her parents and find ways to steal the attention from her older brother. That explains the relentless energy that she emits during tight matches. She flashes footwork on the way from her chair to the service line after a changeover, shadow-hitting returns before settling down into a sober glow.
Any little edge she can get she’ll exploit out there, and Svitolina is a player that can be overpowered by many of the bigger hitters on tour, but she accepts her fate and doesn’t let a few screaming winners sailing past her dampen her enthusiasm for proving that she not only belongs with the WTA’s elite—she can be the best.
Eventually, Svitolina knows, her opponent will let down her guard. Eventually, Svitolina knows, there will be a window to crawl through, a moment for her to seize the throat of a tennis match and shake it furiously until it draws its last breath. Every competitor should know this drill and strive to exploit those moments of weakness in their opponents the way that Svitolina does.
She has built a game predicated on solid, steady strength. She seeks every edge available to her and craves every opportunity to move ahead. It may seem unremarkable to some, but to others who know the value of such an unyielding drive, it is a reason to get behind the Ukrainian. Yes, we love the artists, the natural athletes, the loose cannons and the high-flying dazzlers, but the purists out there love what Svitolina brings. She shows the ultimate respect for tennis, her opponents and the fans, by pouring 200 percent of her being into every single moment she spends on a tennis court.
When you watch her Grand Slam glory might seem far-fetched. She’s not overly powerful and her serve tops out just below 110 on a good day. She’s not a particularly explosive mover, either, and she has the habit of relying on her brilliant defensive and anticipatory skills instead of pushing aggressiveness.
Nobody said she’s the perfect player—she is, however, the perfect competitor.
But will it be enough to get her to the promised land? Is a Grand Slam title in the offing for the 24-year-old?
“She just has an unbelievable level of the game,” Savchuk told me. “She is the best—I would say—defender on the tour, and she has quite stable psychology for the game, so it’s just a matter of time.”
Whether that dream comes true or not shouldn’t keep us from appreciating what Svitolina does well. There are hundreds of talented players on tour that aren’t doing every single thing that they can to make themselves better. Nick Kyrgios is an easy target, and so is Svitolina’s current boyfriend, Gael Monfils, but there are many more.
With Svitolina there is a ceaseless motivation and a boundless positivity. You can see it and feel it when she plays and the most remarkable part of all of it is that it never wavers. Svitolina might let her emotions out, like she did last night during a tough moment of her straight-sets win over Daria Gavrilova in third-round action at the BNP Paribas Open, but she will never lose the plot.
She can’t afford to and she knows it.
If she’s up a break she’ll cling to that advantage like she’s clinging to a life preserver in a barren ocean. If she’s down a break she’ll constantly remind her opponent that she isn’t going anywhere.
Svitolina is a self-sparking engine, a mental machine. And as her game continues to evolve, she will only get better. At 24, she is slowly easing herself into a more aggressive posture, she made several sparkling forays to the net last night against Gavrilova, and finally put the match to bet with a wicked, high-risk forehand winner.
Time will tell if Svitolina will fulfill the promise that Savchuk and many others see in her. But no matter what, she’ll have left it all out there and given everything in the quest for everything.
That’s more than enough reason to be awed.