Ball – The war in Ukraine strengthened Elena Svitolina (tennis)

“The war made me stronger,” concluded Ukrainian Elena Svitolina when she interrupted the series of 14 consecutive victories of the Polish world leader Iga Switek, in qualifying for the semi-finals of Wimbledon by three. groups. In men, the tradition still exists, despite the difficulties of Serbian Novak Djokovic in getting rid of the Russian Andrei Rublev and reaching the same stage of the only Grand Slam tournament on grass for the twelfth time.

Seven months ago, Elena Svitolina celebrated the birth of her first daughter with French player Gael Monfils. He stopped playing in March, a month after Russia invaded Ukraine, and Skye was born in October. He needed to “break away” from the competition and not touch a racket. At the beginning of this year, he reconnected with tennis, but few people could have imagined a strong comeback at Wimbledon, where he triumphed in the third round. “The war made me stronger psychologically, too. I no longer see hard times as disasters. There are worse things in life,” explained the Ukrainian, who won 7/5, 6/7 (5-7) and 6/2 after two grueling hours and 50 minutes.

After the birth of her daughter, Elena Svitolina took three months to recover. The former world number three arrived at Wimbledon in No. 76, which did nothing to prevent her from advancing to the semi-finals of Wimbledon. Main Briton for the second time in his career. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist achieved her seventh victory over the leader of the V.I.P classification and fourth against champion A Main, because in the past she surpassed Venus Williams, Sofia Kenin and Victoria Azarenka. She is the third player in the Open Era to defeat four former Grand Slam champions in the same tournament, after American Serena Williams at the US Open in 1999 and Belgium’s Justine Henin at Roland Garros in 2005. Czech Marketa Vondrousova, responsible for defeating North American Jessica Pegula At 6/4, 2/6 and 6/4, she is the next competitor, reshuffling both Tokyo 2020 semi-finals.

If the women’s world leader left the arena, the world number two and defending 2022 win, Novak Djokovic, withstood the pressure of a Grand Slam 400 match that started with a loss to escape Russia’s Andrey Rublev, seventh, in four. groups in parts 4/6, 6/1, 6/4, and 6/3. Place in the semi-finals of a Main For the 46th time, the Serb is allowed to match the Swiss record, Roger Federer.

Novak Djokovic continues his fight for his eighth Wimbledon title, the fifth in a row, against the Italian ranked 8 in the world, Yannick Siner, who beat Russian Roman Sviolin, 92, 6/4, 3/6, 6/2 and 6 / two. There will be two strangers inside court Because they met at the Wimbledon Championships in the quarter-finals of 2022, which is unfortunate for the trans alpine world after its 2-0 lead.

“It means a lot to me. We worked a lot and made a lot of sacrifices for this moment, which is really good for me. I’m happy to be in the semi-finals, ”admitted Yannick Sener.