Weary Svitolina says she needs a rest

  • "Sometimes, you know, it's tough to handle, tough to handle, but is the part of the job, is the part of the Grand Slam," she said.
01 Jul, 2021

LONDON: Elina Svitolina says she is not in a good place and needs to rest after the third seed went out in the second round of Wimbledon, beaten 6-3, 6-4 by Poland's Magda Linette on Thursday.

The 26-year-old Ukrainian -- a Wimbledon semi-finalist in 2019 -- admitted part of the problem was the "different kind of pressure" Grand Slam events bring.

"Sometimes, you know, it's tough to handle, tough to handle, but is the part of the job, is the part of the Grand Slam," she said.

However, she said her problems run deeper than that and needed to take a break and reset.

"I think mentally today I was not really in a good place, and I don't know, I have to look back," said Svitolina.

"I need some time to analyse, but I think mentally it was not very good for me today.

"I have been on the tour for years now and been in different kind of situations.

"But right now I wouldn't say it's very smooth times in my career. For sure, it's a tough time, but I have been in these situations in my career a few times."

Svitolina said the challenge for her was how she picks herself up from feeling so low.

"It's how you come back, how you bounce back from tough losses, tough times in the career," she said.

"So, yeah, mentally for sure I need, you know, I need to reset, I need to rest.

"I need to feel again fresh to play the upcoming tournaments."

Svitolina says the Olympics in Tokyo might be the place to look to raise her spirits.

"Well, for sure, the Olympics is all the time very special to me," she said.

"I try to be ready for it. We have a little bit of time right now to rest, to prepare for it, you know, to change to hard courts, to get stronger physically.

"I really want to play well in the Olympics, but right now I don't know.

"I don't feel like I'm in a good place mentally, so I need some time off and just try to rest and be ready."

Svitolina's hopes of being cheered up a bit by her talented French fiance Gael Monfils were dashed as he also bowed out.

The 13th seed was beaten by Spanish clay court specialist Pedro Martinez 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7/5) in their second round match.

Linette for her part moves into the third round for the second successive Championships and plays Wimbledon debutant Spain's Paula Badosa for a place in the last 16.

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