Elina Svitolina taking break from tennis after 'extremely difficult' time following Russia's invasion of Ukraine

Elina Svitolina is taking a break from tennis due to a back injury and the “unbearable pain” of watching Russia invade her homeland of Ukraine. Svitolina threatened to boycott a match earlier this month against Russia's Anastasia Potapova unless tennis authorities ruled that Russian and Belarusian tennis players had to compete as “neutral athletes”. Ad/> That rule has since been enforced and Svitolina won two matches at the Monterrey Open before losing in the quarter-finals.

Tennis‘We can’t begin to understand how it’s affecting them‘ — Evert on Medvedev and Russian players25/03/2022 AT 07:07 She failed to win a match at either Indian Wells or the Miami Open this month, losing to British duo Harriet Dart and Heather Watson respectively. She will now take some time away from tennis and won’t play the Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers for Ukraine against USA on April 15 and 16. “It’s been an extremely difficult couple of months for me, not only mentally but also physically,” world No.20 Svitolina said on Twitter.

Wawrinka on comeback: I still have what it takes What does Murray need to work on with Lendl? “For quite a long time I’ve been struggling with my back. The pain didn’t let me prepare for the tournaments at my best. “Meanwhile, observing with unbearable pain in my heart what is happening in my homeland of Ukraine and with how much bravery and courage our Ukrainian people are defending our country, this gave me a huge push to continue and fight on court.

“Now my body can’t handle it anymore and I need to rest. Therefore, I’m sad to announce that I will be missing Fed Cup and a few of my favourite tournaments in Europe. “But I’m sure I will see you around soon.