Elina Svitolina is a counter-puncher who has done her best grass work at Wimbledon itself, with semi-finals in 2019 and 2023, though she has never reached a grass final. A short 2026 swing ended in a first-round defeat at Wimbledon, and she slipped from 18th to 22nd in the women’s GTC Grass Rankings with a GTC Grass Rating of 101.
Grass at a glance
- GTC Grass Rating: 101, 22nd in the women’s rankings (18th before the season)
- Pillars: Lawn Form 46, Arsenal 55, Wimbledon 57, Nerve 55
- Nationality: Ukraine
- Best Wimbledon result: Semi-final (2019, 2023)
- Grass titles: None yet
- Plays: Right-handed, two-handed backhand
How Elina plays on grass
Svitolina’s grass game is built on movement, defence and the backhand, which is her stronger side and holds firm on the low bounce. She returns well, redirects pace down the line and makes opponents hit several good shots to win a point. When she is moving freely she can frustrate bigger hitters, which is how she reached two Wimbledon semi-finals.
The serve and forehand are the shots grass exposes. She does not win many free points on serve, and the forehand can land short when opponents keep the ball low and fast. Her Arsenal score of 55 reflects that. She is comfortable at the net when she gets there but rarely builds points around it.
Her Nerve score of 55 sits level with her other pillars, which describes a player whose grass results depend more on fitness and rhythm than on how she handles key points.
Grass record
Svitolina’s Wimbledon record took time to build. She reached the fourth round in 2017 and the semi-final in 2019, losing to Simona Halep in straight sets. In 2023, in her first season back after a break from the tour, she beat Iga Świątek on the way to a second semi-final.
She followed that with a quarter-final in 2024, losing to Elena Rybakina, and a third-round defeat to Elise Mertens in 2025. Outside Wimbledon her grass results have been modest, and she has yet to reach a singles final on the surface, which explains a Lawn Form score of 46.
The 2026 grass season
As the 6th seed in Berlin she reached the quarter-final before losing, and her rating rose from 105 to 107. In Bad Homburg, seeded 3rd, she had a first-round bye, won her second-round match and then withdrew before the quarter-final. The rating edged up to 108.
At Wimbledon she was seeded 8th but lost in the first round, her earliest exit there since 2018. With no wins to count, her rating dropped from 108 to 101, which cost her four places in the rankings.
Looking ahead to 2027
Svitolina’s 2027 depends on staying fit through June. Her Wimbledon record shows the game still works on grass when she is healthy, but her warm-up events have rarely produced deep runs, and this year’s withdrawal in Bad Homburg left her short of matches. A likely schedule is Berlin or Bad Homburg followed by Wimbledon. The serve is the shot that would lift her Arsenal pillar most. A realistic target is a return to the Wimbledon second week, which would bring her rating back towards the top 15.
