Dhe Ukrainian top player Elina Switolina would like more support from the tennis world for her homeland, which is under attack from Russia. “The tennis community can do more. We have seen her come together and help the world in the past. We can do a lot more now,” said the world number 15. in an interview with Eurosport.
Her colleagues on the tennis tour can “help to understand what is happening and thus help the struggling people in Ukraine,” said Svitolina, who was born in Odessa, Ukraine. She herself announced on Twitter on Sunday that she would donate her prize money from the upcoming tournaments in Mexico and the USA to the Ukrainian army and humanitarian aid organizations in her home country. “This is how I can help my country, and that’s the right thing to do at the moment,” said the former WTA Finals winner.
She also announced this in a moving open letter to her home country and the people of Ukraine. “May the world see us and help protect you,” Svitolina wrote in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Every time I talk to my family and friends, it’s hard to find words for what’s happening in Ukraine,” she told Eurosport.
The 27-year-old, who is the top seeded player at the WTA tournament in Monterrey/Mexico this week, tries to speak regularly to her parents, grandparents and other relatives who live in Ukraine. “It’s important to keep in touch – to find out exactly what’s happening and how I can help them,” said Switolina. “The most painful thing is that I feel completely useless.”
