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Ukraine's Svitolina admits weight of pressure after Wimbledon exit

Published Jul 14, 2023 01:24 am
LONDON (AFP) -- Tearful Ukraine star Elina Svitolina said sometimes the pressure "gets maybe too" much after she lost her Wimbledon semifinal on Thursday, July 13. *Ukraine's Elina Svitolina waves to the public as she leaves the court after her defeat against Czech Republic's Marketa Vondrousova during their women's singles semifinals tennis match on the eleventh day of the 2023 Wimbledon Championships at The All England Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon, southwest London, on July 13. (AFP)*

The 28-year-old, who only returned from maternity leave in April, went down 6-3, 6-3 to the unseeded Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic. Watched by Ukraine's ambassador to Britain, Vadym Prystaiko, she briefly threatened a fightback in the second set, coming back from 4-0 down to 4-3 but then ran out of steam. Svitolina said representing war-torn Ukraine was a major motivating factor but added: "It's a lot of responsibility, a lot of tension." "I try to balance it as much as I can," she added. "But, yeah, sometimes it gets maybe too much. "But I don't want to take it as an excuse that I lost today." Svitolina, who reached the quarterfinals at this year's French Open, said the love and support shown to her at the All England Club had been "unbelievable". "Even today when I was down, I got a lot of support," she said. "I'm really thankful for the crowd to support me, be there for me, and all Ukrainian people as well. "They support us quite a lot in different kinds of ways, for a lot of Ukrainians who arrived here when the war started. Really thankful for all the people to support us in different levels." Svitolina said would be "very happy" to see her nine-month-old daughter Skai and her husband, French tennis player Gael Monfils, again. "It will be the best moment," she added.

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