Elina Svitolina on GEMS Life – “The World is About Social Media”

The Ukrainian tennis star, Elina Svitolina will be taking on the 23-time Grand Slam champion, Serena Williams in the semifinals of the US Open 2019. At Flushing Meadows, both Elina Svitolina and Gael Monfils entered the quarterfinals of the US major and concurrently they celebrated Monfils’ 33rd birthday in New York on September 1, 2019.

They share an Instagram account named, ‘GEMS Life’ and that has nearly 100,000 followers. A few weeks ago, they deactivated their account due to personal reasons and later they revived it. “I was surprised by the people, that they were really happy to see us back,” Elina Svitolina said. “We got so many messages, so many comments, they were happy that the account is back.”

She further shared her opinion about the present day scenario of social media. “We try to do something nice to give back. It’s not always easy because obviously there are some haters or people who tell us we are spending too much time on social media. But I don’t think so. Now the world is about social media, and how we learn.”

“We learn much more now than before and that’s how you share as well with the fans, so I don’t think it’s a bad thing. It’s very different. You get used to it very quickly, and it becomes part of the relationship, becomes part of you,” she said.

The tennis couple hits the tennis court together, and the Ukrainian World Number five, Svitolina believes that Monfils has been an influence in improving the defensive aspect of her tennis.

Elina Svitolina previously won a title at the season-ending championships in Singapore. It is the biggest title of her career so far. Despite being title-less this season, Svitolina has been having a flourishing tenure on the WTA Tour.

She made to the semifinals at Wimbledon this year (which was her personal best run in SW19) and she will play Serena Williams in the on-going US Open tournament for a place in the finals. Also, she was a quarterfinalist at the Australian Open 2019. 

On Monday, Svitolina will be ranked as World Number three tennis player, if she clinches the title at Flushing Meadows on Saturday, she will reach her career-high ranking of World Number two.