OMNIUM BANQUE NATIONALE

August 7, 2023

Elina Svitolina

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Welcome back to Montreal. You had some great results on clay and grass. How does it feel to be back on hard courts?

ELINA SVITOLINA: Good to be back. I had a good week in Washington as well, so yeah, nice to be back to Canada. I have good memories. Not from Montreal, but from Toronto, but still happy to be back here.

THE MODERATOR: We'll go to questions.

Q. I'm just curious. On a day like today, you're a veteran on the tour, when there's rain coming in and out, what's the challenge? And are you happy that you're just not on schedule today?

ELINA SVITOLINA: Well, to be fair, you want to play the match, but you have to adjust. You cannot control the weather. You cannot -- I have no say on that, so you just have to adjust, regroup, and be ready for anything that comes your way.

They are not easy, these days when you have to warm up multiple times, you have to eat, and sometime, you know, you have to be on court really quick.

So just for me I knew there was rain, so I tried to practice early in the morning to be done, and then we'll see how the forecast will be. Tomorrow looks also not good, so I guess there will be no match tomorrow too.

Q. Further to that, there's rain in the forecast for the whole week or so, so there might be days where you might be playing two games a day, stuff like that. Do you prepare physically differently knowing that you might have -- your schedule might be a little bit different, and you might have to play two games a day?

ELINA SVITOLINA: Yes. You have to adjust, and I think the best way is just try to save energy. Try to not do too much because knowing you might be playing the second match, but you know, when you go for the first match, you don't think so much about the second match.

If you'll be winning, you'll be playing second round. So just try to give all the energy possible and then, you know, if there's going to be a second match, it's fine. You're still through to the next round.

So it's just, yeah, I have to regroup quickly. Of course, at the beginning of the tournament it's a bit easier because you're still fresh. Towards the end of the tournament is a bit more tricky because you're a bit more tired and physically not as fresh.

Q. Maybe on a different topic, also we read about the fact you had to leave your daughter back in Europe. So what's it been like? How tough has it been just to deal with that recently during this North American tour and just, yeah, can you talk about that challenge a little bit?

ELINA SVITOLINA: Yeah, it's definitely not easy, and especially on the days like this where you have a lot of free time, you want to spend time with your family. I FaceTime with her quite a lot, and I try to spend time through the FaceTime mostly. It's not easy, I would say, this.

We decided to do that. We'll see. Maybe later we're going to change our opinion, but right now she's still 9 months old, and the health is the priority for us, and we want to protect her as much as possible.

Q. Last week in Washington I think was the first time when they made announcements prior to the match that there would be no handshakes. Just looking back, I was just curious to know how you felt it went and whether or not players were consulted and involved in making the decision to proceed this way.

ELINA SVITOLINA: I don't know if they were consulting, but from my side Steve spoke to me prior to the match that there would be an announcement about that.

As I said earlier, I mentioned after Wimbledon, the match with Vika, maybe there should be announcement, and then WTA reacted and came up with this, so this is good.

I think everything went good. I think there was no booing for either of us.

Q. Does it make it more comfortable among players because there's got to be a discomfort, I guess, heading into those matches. Does it sort of ease that part of it?

ELINA SVITOLINA: Yeah, I think you can see in some ways, but I don't know. I think it's the right decision to do. I'm happy that our decision is being respected, and this is the most important for us.

Q. I'm just wondering how many weeks you will be without your daughter?

ELINA SVITOLINA: Five weeks I think. It depends how I play at US Open, but I think four or five weeks.

Q. Caroline Wozniacki is back after three years. She also made some tough decisions after giving birth, becoming a mother. Just what are maybe your impressions of her coming back after three years, and do you share some kind of bond between all the mothers on the tour knowing the sacrifices they make and the challenges of having a baby at home and playing professional tennis?

ELINA SVITOLINA: Yeah, I have a lot of respect for Caroline to come back after two. It's really a big challenge, and she's a great fighter.

I was not extremely surprised by her coming back because I feel like she wants to try again to accept this challenge for her personally, and I think it's a great one.

I'm looking forward to play maybe against her, practice a couple of more times with her. We practiced quite a lot before.

She's a good person. We had a little chat. Unfortunately it was short because I lost my semifinal at Wimbledon. When I bumped into her, she said a few nice words to me.

Yeah, it's great that there is some girls after giving birth coming back. I think it takes a lot of strength and a lot of hard work to come back. Not only to be playing on tour, but also to the same level where you've been before.

So, yeah, it's great. It shows, I think, also how women are -- how strong we are, and I hope that more girls also can believe that this is possible and then can also have a career after the baby.

Q. You mentioned a lot about adjusting. What's your secret to adjusting to the hard court season and staying consistent with your game?

ELINA SVITOLINA: I had some time on the practice court. I was supposed to play on clay, but I decided to take time and really practice physically.

Also on the court I was practicing a lot my shots. So it's all about the practice, the hard work on and off the court, and then is the matter of time when it's going to click together.

I'm happy that I'm taking the time in between the tournaments between the busy schedule because, you know, pretty much right now you can play every single week. So there is opportunities to play, but also you need to take time to rest mentally and physically as well, work on your game, work on a few things.

So for me it's just important to take time for these things.

Q. You've been doing so well since the birth of your child. What type of advice would you give? I'm sure you won't give any advice to Caroline, but what type of advice would you give for the mindset to have when you can back like that after the birth of a child?

ELINA SVITOLINA: As I said, I don't think I have to give her advice, but she is actually very patient. It's important to be patient.

You can play really well on the practice court, but then sometimes in the match it takes time to really be in the match mindset. For me it took a little bit of time.

Of course, it looks like I came back quick, but for me -- now I wish some matches, the one -- like the ones before Strasbourg, let's say, I could play better, I could handle my emotions better. This took a little bit of time for me.

So, yeah, I think you have to be patient and just put in hard work and try to play better and do better each time.

Q. I was just curious about your level of comfort in French and whether or not you can understand our --

ELINA SVITOLINA: Yeah, I can understand pretty much everything. Pretty much everything.

I used to learn even before I met Gael. I used to learn French, so I'm not speaking fluently, but I can talk.

Thank you.