Elina Svitolina Wins Rome Tournament and Reaches No. 7 Ranking

Elina Svitolina won a tournament in Rome in early May, defeating Elena Rybakina, Iga Świątek, and Coco Gauff. She is now ranked No. 7 in the world and has beaten every player ranked above her at least once. She told an interviewer last week that she was focused on recovery from the Rome event rather than on the French Open title. U.S. Open last year and in Madrid this spring.

Before her marriage to Gael Monfils and the birth of their daughter Skaï, Svitolina said her focus was on results and trophies. She won the Rome title twice, the World Tour Finals, and reached a career-high ranking of No. 3. After returning from maternity leave less than six months after Skaï was born, she adopted a more attacking style with bigger groundstrokes and shorter points.

She said the change was partly driven by age and the need to shorten rallies.

Svitolina reached the Wimbledon semifinal in her first tournament back and later returned to the top ten. She won a tournament in Auckland in January and reached the Australian Open semifinals. She took the final months of last year off the tour and returned refreshed.

Seven Ukrainian women are now ranked inside the WTA top 100. Svitolina said she draws motivation from family in Ukraine and from representing her country. She plans to take each match at the French Open one at a time.