\u201cDefinitely I\u2019ll be opening up maybe a bit later about what was happening, but for now it\u2019s still very fresh and I still try to learn,\u201d she said. \u201cI try to learn about these feelings and find the ways that work for me and so far I feel refreshed. I think \u2013 no, I am sure \u2013 it was a good decision for me to step back a little bit to take my time off the court.\u201d<\/p>\n
The world No 14 is in action on Tuesday, returning to Auckland after being a big hit on her maiden appearance in 2024, when she reached the final.<\/p>\n
ASB Classic 2024 finalists Coco Gauff and runner-up Elina Svitolina. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
The charismatic Svitolina charmed with her humour and honesty \u2013 especially after the ongoing situation in her native Ukraine \u2013 while also navigating a tough schedule on court. She had to get past former world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki in the first round, then was stretched to the limit by Emma Raducanu in a match that featured two tiebreaks and lasted almost three hours. Her schedule took a toll \u2013 and she could barely walk on the morning of the final \u2013 but she still pushed Coco Gauff, taking the first bracket before the American came back to win in three sets.<\/p>\n
As much as the local crowd loved Svitolina, the player was also taken by her visit, opting for a permanent memento when she got a tattoo at a local parlour.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a new country for me and I heard so many great things about the tattoos here in New Zealand so it\u2019s a good place I thought to get a tattoo,\u201d said the two-time Wimbledon semi-finalist at the time. \u201cIt\u2019s a Ukraine symbol but I decided to get it here. I designed it myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 31-year-old is not sure if there will be a repeat. \u201cWe\u2019ll see, but one is already enough.\u201d But she is in a good frame of mind, with husband Gael Monfils accompanying her before he defends his Auckland title next week.<\/p>\n
Elina Svitolina: “I’m mentally fresh, physically ready for big battles.” Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n
Svitolina, who faces world No 77 Varvara Gracheva on Tuesday, discounts any extra pressure from being the highest ranked player in the draw.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nothing changed really,\u201d said Svitolina. \u201cFor me if I\u2019m first seed or unseeded at the tournament, it is always the same for me. Everybody is there against you, trying to beat you, trying to perform as best as they can, but for me it\u2019s just all about my routines and just being there. I\u2019m mentally fresh, physically ready for big battles. Everybody is super ready, super prepared for the first tournament of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael Burgess<\/a> has been a Sports Journalist for the New Zealand Herald since 2005, covering the Olympics, Fifa World Cups, and America\u2019s Cup campaigns. He is a co-host of the Big League podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cDefinitely I\u2019ll be opening up maybe a bit later about what was happening, but for now it\u2019s still…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":217369,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1443,95,25286,27126,4915,14134,17890,131139,8456,56387,685,555,111,139,69,90,34592,39157,9979,6926,8258,213,4497,131140,11227],"class_list":["post-217368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-about","tag-and","tag-asb","tag-break","tag-classic","tag-decision","tag-doubt","tag-elina","tag-fresh","tag-isnt","tag-last","tag-mentalhealth","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-ready","tag-reasons","tag-right","tag-season","tag-seed","tag-sports","tag-start","tag-svitolina","tag-talk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}