“The Conditions That We Are Offered Are Not Ideal” – Elina Svitolina on Tennis’ Resumption

A few days ago the tennis tours announced the resumption of the tour in mid-August after five months of suspension since March 2020. The tennis players and fans were extremely happy upon learning the news, however, the coronavirus pandemic is far from getting over. Also, the conditions are not fully fit for hosting tennis tournaments. World Number five Elina Svitolina believes hosting tournaments right now is a mammoth task.

This year Cincinnati and US Open will be held in the same location in Flushing Meadows, New York. The players have to abide by strict rules and regulations and travel with the minimum number of people in their team. Also, there will be tests conducted to check whether the players or officials are infected with the virus or not.

(*Do note that the interview has been translated into English via Google Translate)

“It’s great that everything is coming back, of course, but there are a lot of questions. I think that it’s not just me,” Svitolina told btu.org.ua. “At the moment, the conditions that we are offered are not ideal, because there will be many tests, plus isolation, it’s not clear what will happen with the points, with the money. It’s very difficult to say something.”

Svitolina continued to talk about the US Open’s scenario this year. She’s optimistic about the tournament to get underway in 2020. The tournament will be respecting all the acts of hygiene and safety. But, there’s a thought in her mind which says the rules are quite ‘stringent.’

“I believe that the conditions are still quite stringent. For example, according to the rule, if you get sick or you have any symptoms, then you can be removed from any round and isolated for 14 days,” she said.

“Some points that are still not known exactly how they will go are quite difficult for all players. I think that they will do everything the best for us. We will watch in the near future how everything goes. I hope that everything will turn out and we will slowly return.”

“If there are no points in a tournament, I don’t know if it makes sense” – Elina Svitolina

Also, the official tours ATP and WTA are working upon the ranking points scenario once the tour resumes. Presently, their rankings are frozen, and there have been some reports that tournaments might not consider rankings points criteria this year. Ukrainian number one tennis player Svitolina believes, there’s no point in hosting tournaments without considering the ranking points.

“If there are no points in a tournament, I don’t know if it makes sense to go and play because the conditions are enough If you need to spend so much time in isolation, this also plays a big role. I know that there will be more meetings, that this will be decided in the coming weeks,” she added.

In 2020, Elina Svitolina won a title in Mexico and snapped her title-less streak since WTA Finals 2018. Last year, she made her career-best run at Grand Slams by reaching the semifinals of Wimbledon and US Open.