It was a typical morning for Elina Svitolina at Indian Wells in Palm Springs. Until news broke that Russia had once again attacked Odesa, her hometown in Ukraine. She had long feared facing that reality. Yet one that had become all too familiar. But Svitolina isn’t someone who folds under pressure! In fact, she’s become a force both on and off the court. Add to the fact that she has refused to shake hands with Russian and Belarusian players since day one of the war.

It isn’t just limited to off-court matters! The Ukrainian has been nothing short of flawless against Russian players. And in her own words, she’s willing “to die on court” rather than let her opponent win. And today, with a dominant 6-4, 6-1 victory over Veronika Kudermetova in the 2025 Australian Open fourth round, she extended her perfect 7-0 record against Russian opponents since the war began.

Elina Svitolina, who is onto her 3rd Australian Open Quarterfinal, reflected post match on her mindset while playing Russian players, “I don’t do anything different. For me, it’s the same routines that I have in the morning before the matches. Everything is the same. It’s just that I feel the spirit is different. I’m really putting everything out there. I feel like I put all my energy there. If I’m not going to win, but I’m almost gonna die on the court, you know. But I am not gonna let her win that easy. So I feel like this fighting spirit is really pushing me through these matches. And, yes, the mention, you know, it’s just the associations that, personally, I have with this country. It’s very painful and very tough on my heart. So, of course, I have extra motivation for this”

World No 27 also didn’t mince her words when discussing her stance on shaking hands with Russian players and said, “Adding to my feeling that I have, the association with this country for me, to be fair, I don’t really see it happening. Because it’s just a terrible, terrible feeling, and I would not wish it on anyone to ever experience this. But to wake up to the news of when your friend has died on the front line, being killed by Russian soldiers, it’s something that’s really heavily on my heart.”

Her deep resentment intensified at Wimbledon 2024, where Svitolina, wearing a black ribbon in honor of those killed in missile strikes on Ukraine, fought through her emotions to reach the quarter-finals after defeating China’s Wang Xinyu 6-2, 6-1. She also refused to shake hands with Russian players.

Svitolina isn’t the Ukranian player to have a cold reaction to all the things. Marta Kostyuk has been pretty vocal as well and has notably refused post-match handshakes with players from Russia and Belarus. In a second-round clash at the Miami Open 2023, Kostyuk lost in straight sets to Russia’s Anastasia Potapova, 6-1, 6-3; she subsequently refused to shake Potapova’s hand after the match.

This was not an isolated stance by Kostyuk, and she repeated the gesture later at the French Open 2023, following her first-round loss to Aryna Sabalenka, who dispatched her 6-3, 6-2.

But for Svitolina, it wasn’t just the geopolitical tension that weighed on her—it was her changing body, too.

Elina Svitolina’s battle back to Tennis elite

In September 2024, Elina Svitolina faced one of her toughest opponents yet – not across the net, but on the operating table. With two screws inserted into her ankles and battling connected injuries from her back to her feet, the Ukrainian star’s journey back wasn’t just about physical recovery.

“After giving birth, you would think that everything is fine, but actually, to have general anesthesia scares you for the first time because you don’t know what to expect,” she shared

Svitolina was pushing through pain to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2024 and struggling through the US Open 2024 on painkillers; she finally took the crucial decision to prioritize healing for the foot injury that started 18 months ago.

“When the surgery happened in September, I had the real time to really rest and to do different procedures for my back, have meetings with the doctors, and really try to take care of it. Also, I took some time to strengthen all the parts that I had to because the season is very long. Sometimes you don’t have this time to really stop and invest in your body.” the 30-year-old said.

Moving on to court, Svitolina, who has matched her best performance at the Australian Open after reaching Qfs, braces for Madison Key for a place in the Semi-finals.