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Elina Svitolina Reveals The Shot She’d Borrow From Serena Williams’ Arsenal

Published 07/15/2020, 4:45 PM EDT

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Soon after World Number five, Elina Svitolina concluded her title-less drought since November 2018 in Monterrey, Mexico, the tennis tour was called off amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. The Ukrainian was in good form in the month of February but, unfortunately, she couldn’t exhibit all her tennis skills to the fullest in the 2020 season. 

A complete baseliner and the defensive player on the women’s tour, Svitolina was asked if she could borrow any shot from her fellow professionals, which one would it be. Turns out, the Ukrainian champion envies the ferocious forehand of Serena Williams.

The pair have locked horns six times in their careers. Elina’s sole victory against Serena came at Rio Olympics 2016. Recently, they met in the semifinals of US Open 2019. It was Svitolina’s career-best performance at Flushing Meadows.

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Also, Svitolina revealed her admiration towards 22-time Grand Slam champion Steffi Graf. She would love to incorporate her groundstrokes into her game.

“Definitely, it would be a forehand of Serena Williams. And if I had the opportunity to choose another one, then I would choose it from the shots of Steffi Graf. Although I never saw her play live, I would choose her forehand and her backhand,” she told BTU. (The quotes have been translated)

25-year-old Svitolina is not in a hurry to win her first Grand Slam, but she desperately wants one. She feels that gradually gaining experience and getting adapted to the flow of the game will aid her to make her breakthrough on the Majors front.

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Elina Svitolina in Berlin finals

Presently, she’s playing an exhibition event in Berlin. She beat Anastasija Sevastova in the semifinals of the grass-court exhibition in Germany.

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“I think it was a good match with a lot of good rallies. For what was kind of my first match [since the tour’s hiatus], it took a little bit of time for me to get into the fighting spirit, and Anastasija is a great fighter. In the end, it was a good match. This year, we missed the grass-court season. But I’m just happy to be here and to come back and play on the grass,” she said. (as quoted by WTA)

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And now, she has set up a final against two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova.

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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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