Svitolina would ‘prefer’ Wimbledon ban on Russian tennis players

This story has been updated to reflect Elina Svitolina’s comments in her post-match press conference at Wimbledon.

WIMBLEDON — Elina Svitolina wore a black ribbon during her Wimbledon last-16 match against Wang Xiyu, after Russian missile strikes killed and injured more than 100 Ukrainians across the country this morning.

In her press conference following a 6-2, 6-1 win to reach her second consecutive Wimbledon quarterfinal, she said that she would “prefer” the tournament’s policy of 2022 to be in place, when Russian and Belarusian athletes were banned from competing.

When asked if she felt that the All England Club’s policy should return to that of two years ago, Svitolina, the No 21 seed, said “of course, I would prefer that.

“But it is how it is now. I cannot change. We tried every possible way to talk with many organizations.”

Svitolina had broken down in tears during the customary on-court interview immediately following her win.

“It’s a very difficult day today for Ukrainian people,” she said, before beginning to cry. The crowd applauded for over 45 seconds as she composed herself.

“It was more difficult today to focus on the match. Since the morning it’s very difficult to read the news, and to go on the court… It’s extremely tough.

“I’m happy that I could play today, and get the win.”

At least 36 people were killed and over 100 were injured in cities across Ukraine on Monday, according to Reuters, following a large-scale Russian missile strike. Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital in Kyiv, the country’s largest children’s hospital, was also hit during the strike. Officials cautioned that the toll was likely to rise.

Svitolina is an ambassador for the United24 program, launched by Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

She became one of the biggest stories at Wimbledon in 2023, for both her run to semifinals — defeating world No 1 Iga Swiatek en route — and her work in support of Ukraine. Her foundation, established in 2019, has brought over 1000 young Ukrainian players into tennis coaching.

A spokesperson for the All England Club said that players at the tournament are in constant dialogue with officials, and that Svitolina discussed wearing the ribbon with the Referee before taking to court.

Geopolitical tensions were at the heart of last year’s tournament, after the All England Club reversed its 2022 ban on Russian and Belarusian tennis players. They remain required to compete as neutral athletes, and the reversal restored ranking points to the tournament after the ATP and WTA tours stripped them in 2022 in response to the ban.

This has largely been absent from this year’s tournament, until today. Earlier in the draw, at the end of a second-round match between Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska and Varvara Gracheva, who is Russian-born but lives in and competes for France, Yastremska appeared to forget her opponent’s background when going in for a handshake. This resulted in a mutually awkward — but not tense — snub at the net.

In 2023, non-handshakes between Ukrainian and Russian and Belarusian players were the accepted norm between them, but crowds were sometimes unaware and would boo players come the end of matches.

Svitolina now faces Elena Rybakina, 23, in the quarter-finals. She has become one of the title favourites, as the only player left in the draw to have won Wimbledon before, in 2022.

Rybakina was born and raised in Moscow, where her family still lives, but accepted Kazakhstan citizenship in 2017  in exchange for financial backing from the Kazakhstan tennis association, at the time bolstered by the patronage of billionaire tennis superfan Bulat Utemuratov. The two met at the French Open, where Rybakina won 6-4, 6-3, and they shook hands at the end.

When asked whether she would shake her hand at this match, Svitolina said “she changed her nationality, so it means she doesn’t want to represent her original country, so it works.”

(Andrej Isakovic/AFP via Getty Images)