The 21st century
Ukraine · born Odesa, 1994 · right-handed · twice a Wimbledon semi-finalist
All playersBack to the rankings
2
Wimbledon semi-finals, 2019 and 2023
76
Her ranking when she beat world No. 1, 2023
4
Major champions beaten at Wimbledon 2023
20
WTA singles titles, none yet on grass
Born in Odesa on 12 September 1994, Svitolina was a Wimbledon girls' finalist in 2012 and reached a career-high ranking of No. 3 in September 2017. She won the WTA Finals in 2018 and a singles bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics, and has 20 WTA singles titles. After Russia's invasion of Ukraine she raised funds for her country through charity exhibitions and her own foundation. She stepped away in 2022, gave birth to a daughter that October and returned in April 2023, winning Strasbourg and reaching the French Open quarter-finals and the Wimbledon semi-finals within three months. In 2026 she won Auckland and the Italian Open and reached the Australian Open semi-finals. Her 2026 grass season ended in the first round at Wimbledon, where Daria Snigur beat the eighth seed 7-5, 6-2 from 0-4 down in the first set.
| Wimbledon singles | Semi-final 2019 and 2023; quarter-final 2024; fourth round 2017; third round 2025; second round 2015, 2016 and 2021; first round 2013, 2014, 2018 and 2026 |
|---|---|
| Wimbledon semi-finals | 2019: lost to Simona Halep 6-1, 6-3 as the eighth seed. 2023: lost to Markéta Vondroušová 6-3, 6-3, the first Open Era Wimbledon semi-final between two unseeded players |
| Run to remember | 2023, as a wildcard: beat Venus Williams, Elise Mertens, Sofia Kenin, Victoria Azarenka and world No. 1 Iga Świątek, 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-2 in the quarter-final |
| Other Wimbledon defeats | 2017: Jeļena Ostapenko in the fourth round. 2024: Elena Rybakina 6-3, 6-2 in the quarter-final. 2025: Elise Mertens in the third round |
| Juniors | Wimbledon girls' singles final 2012, lost to Eugenie Bouchard 6-2, 6-2 as the fourth seed; girls' doubles final 2010 |
| Grass titles | None yet in singles or doubles |
"War made me stronger and also made me mentally stronger."
The person behind the player.
Odesa 1999
Her parents named her after the Soviet actress Elina Bystritskaya. Her father was a wrestler and her mother a rower, and her older brother Yulian was her first coach. She took up tennis at five, partly, by her own account, because she noticed her brother's tennis was earning him their father's attention and wanted some of it herself.
Source: WikipediaMonterrey 2022
Days after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the draw in Monterrey placed her against Russia's Anastasia Potapova. Svitolina announced she would not play Russian or Belarusian players unless they competed under neutral status, without national flags or anthems. The governing bodies agreed to that condition, and Russian and Belarusian players have competed as neutrals since.
Source: WikipediaWimbledon 2023 · Quarter-final
After beating world No. 1 Iga Świątek 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-2 on Centre Court, she was asked how she would spend the next few days before the semi-final. "First of all I'm gonna have a beer, probably," she said, before adding that she would get some treatment, regroup and prepare for another big battle.
Source: Tennis365Wimbledon 2023 · Semi-final
She lost 6-3, 6-3 to Markéta Vondroušová and was close to tears as she spoke about the messages she had received from home. "Sometimes it gets maybe too much," she said of the weight of playing for Ukraine, "but I don't want to take it as an excuse that I lost today." She asked Ukrainians to keep supporting her.
Source: Sky SportsWimbledon 2024 · Fourth round
On the day Russian missiles struck Ukraine, including a children's hospital in Kyiv, she played Wang Xinyu with a black ribbon on her top and won 6-2, 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals. "Wimbledon has become black for me today," she wrote on Instagram, and she was in tears afterwards.
Source: Sky SportsWimbledon 2026 · First round
Seeded eighth, she led her compatriot Daria Snigur 4-0 and lost 7-5, 6-2 in 68 minutes. She admitted she had not been at 100 per cent after a long clay season, in which she had won the Italian Open, and called the grass "very unpredictable in a way".
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