Elina Svitolina Gets Into Trouble With Ukrainian Fed Cup

Published 01/29/2019, 7:06 PM EST

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Ukraine’s number one tennis player, Elina Svitolina got involved in a quarrel with the Ukrainian Tennis Federation and as a consequence, she steps down from Ukraine’s national tennis team and denies participation to represent her nation at the Fed Cup tournament. The World Number seven, Svitolina reached the last eight round at the Australian Open 2019 and where she lost to the eventual champion, Naomi Osaka. During the match, she received treatment for her neck and shoulder injury which ultimately impeded her to perform better in the Melbourne major. 

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Svitolina’s compatriot, Dayana Yastremska was initially drawn into Ukraine’s tennis team, but she pulled out as her agent demanded inessential financial support. The Ukrainian Tennis Federation voiced out stating, representing the nation on an international platform is a matter of pride and loyalty towards one’s country. “Playing matches for your national team should be a matter of patriotism, dedication and respect for the sporting honour of Ukraine,” the Federation stated. Ukraine will not be putting up their strongest team for the first group of the Euro-African zone of the Federation Cup event this year. WTA Finals champion, Svitlona further revealed, the financial discussions did take place with the federation, however, her pivotal concern was her injury which hampered her performance in Australia. 

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The tennis aces of Ukraine, Svitolina and Yastremsky will be absent from the Fed Cup event, which condenses the possibilities of Ukraine to perform efficiently in the tournament. The chief contender for Ukraine is Estonia, where the WTA rank number 20, Anette Kontaveit is part of the Estonian team. The event will be taking place from 6 to 8 February in Zielona Gora, Poland. The teams of Estonia, Bulgaria and Sweden will be participating in the same group as Ukraine. Only a winner from the group will advance further into the tournament. And they will be competing with best among the Poland, Russia and Denmark group. 

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Mahalakshmi Murali

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Mahalakshmi Murali joined EssentiallySports in 2018 as a tennis author and has gone on to pen more than 1800 engaging articles, probing into various aspects of the sport and its illustrious players. With her expertise on the sport, Mahalakshmi has interviewed stalwarts from the sport such as Serena WIlliams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou and Kevin Anderson’s physio, Carlos Costa. Equipped with her vast experience and a keen understanding of the sport, Mahalakshmi now co-heads the tennis department.
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