By Mike McIntyre
World No. 5 Elina Svitolina sat down with members of the media on Monday in Toronto at the Rogers Cup to discuss her season thus far and her thoughts moving forward in what has been a very successful season for the 22 year old Ukrainian.
Earlier in the day she had an hour long practice session on Court 3 with Johanna Konta of Great Britain who she solidified a friendship with during the two weeks after Wimbledon while she stayed in town there.
Svitolina and Konta played together in doubles Monday afternoon but were beaten by the pair of Andrea Klepac and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-2, 3-6, 10-6.
While the two worked hard on getting their feel for the harcourts at the Aviva Centre they also shared some laughs during breaks.
Later in the day while talking to the press, Svitolina was candid in assessing where her game is at the moment and what she still needs to do in order to improve.
"I need to stay in the moment, not think so much about what’s going to be ahead of me," Svitolina revealed. "You need to be patient."
Svitolina notices some differences since reaching the top five of the WTA Tour including the fact that, "Well, everyone is listening to you more!"
Svitolina was very engaged in the media scrum and seems to be growing more comfortable with that part of the pro tour. She feels more responsibility with the added scrutiny but also uses that to motivate her to continue to improve and maintain a presence at the top of the women's game. “It’s pressure of course…it gives you this kind of push that you need each morning to wake up and go on the court.”
Of course she could not avoid someone asking her about the epic collapse in the semi-finals of the French Open where she led her match against Simona Halep by a score of 6-3, 5-1 before allowing the Romanian to take the match from under her feet. She answered the question straight-up and said that she has taken the positives from the match and moved on because as she put it, “If I would come back to that match each day or each week I would probably end up somewhere in the crazy house.”
Svitolina's goals include eventually becoming the World No. 1 player, but she admitted that she is in no rush to have that happen. She compared herself to current ranking leader Karolina Pliskova but deferred to her peer as having a more complete game at the moment. Something that Svitolina is herself working on achieving.
"Of course it’s one of my main goals but for the moment I’m not focusing on this thing. I think it’s just the matter of time, the matter of preparation, and Pliskova she’s No. 1 but her game is kind of set you know? I still think that I can improve more. To be No. 1 you need to be more complete as a player."
Her patient approach reveals a maturity that is not usually found in someone of her age and we'll have to wait and see along with the rest of the tennis world if she is one day able to make that happen.
Svitolina opens her singles play at the Rogers Cup with a second round match against 38th ranked Daria Kasatkina on Tuesday afternoon, not before 5pm, on the Grandstand Court. She leads her head-to-head against the 20 year old Russian 1-0 with a three set win in New Haven last year.
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