ROLAND GARROS — Elina Svitolina said last week she was “fighting here on my own frontline”, powerful words that foreshadowed her run to the French Open quarter-finals.
In her first grand slam since giving birth to daughter Skai in October, the Ukrainian player has beaten two Russians, Anna Blinkova and Daria Kasatkina, and will now face Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in the biggest sporting confrontation between an athlete from Ukraine and one either from Russia or Belarus since the war began.
Svitolina was playing in Mexico when Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year.
“I was very, very sad. I almost cried when I entered the court,” Svitolina said.
“I had real heaviness in me. Then I thought now each time I step on the court I’m going to go 100 per cent out and give everything because I’m here to do something for my country.
“I have a flag next to my name, so I’m fighting for my country, and I’m going to do that each time I step on the court.”
She added: “I just try to think about the fighting spirit that all of us Ukrainians have and how Ukrainians are fighting for their values, for their freedom in Ukraine. And me, I’m fighting here on my own frontline.”
Sabalenka’s own tournament has been inextricably linked with the invasion that was facilitated by authoritarian Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, in support of whom the world No 2 is alleged to have signed a letter in 2020.
That came in the midst of the protests that followed the election, during which dissenters faced violent recriminations. The United Nations Human Rights Office reported “450 documented cases of torture and ill-treatment of people deprived of their liberty” during the blowback.
Sabalenka was grilled about her support in that context, as well as the illegal invasion of Ukraine, in her second-round press conference, but gave a “no comment” response.
She has not given an open press conference since, answering questions from a member of WTA staff instead before circulating her comments to the media.
After beating Sloane Stephens to reach the quarter-finals, her only remarks about Svitolina were that she expects her to “run a lot and put a lot of balls back” and that Sabalenka would “have to be patient”.
There was no question about how she might handle a tense situation, or whether she and Svitolina would speak beforehand or afterwards.
“It’s the right of the press to ask the questions they want to ask, but also it is her right not to answer them if she doesn’t want to answer them,” said world No 3 and WTA Players’ Council member Jessica Pegula.
“After I had a really tough loss in the singles on Friday, I was not really in the mood to speak to the media.”
She added: “Of course, speaking to the media is important for growing the sport and connecting with fans. We wouldn’t want to lose that.
“But it has to be the right balance and the player has to feel safe.”
That phrase – “feel safe” – is the same one that Sabalenka used to describe how she felt in her last open press conference.
She may not, but it was a poor choice of words that will ring hollow in the ears of Svitolina or Marta Kostyuk, who described how, on the morning of the tournament, she awoke at 5am to strings of WhatsApp messages from friends in her home city of Kyiv, where Russia had launched its biggest ever drone attack.
Despite fear of recriminations, there have been some players speaking out. Kasatkina now lives in Spain and has publicly criticised the invasion of Ukraine.
“I’m really thankful for her position that she took,” Svitolina said. “She’s a really brave person to say it publicly.”
Sabalenka meanwhile is unlikely to say much publicly at all after the quarter-final on Tuesday, other than a few on-court platitudes if she wins and a brief TV interview.
Meanwhile, war rages on. And many Ukrainians do not have the luxury of “feeling safe”.
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