ROLAND GARROS

May 25, 2025

Elina Svitolina

Press Conference

E. SVITOLINA/Z. Sonmez

6-1, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations. First day on court, how did it feel?

ELINA SVITOLINA: It was a good match from my side. I felt I played well. From the beginning it was important to be focused. Never easy to start in the first rounds.

Yeah, was happy I could perform well from the first until the last point.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. It's been a good clay court season for you. How did you feel coming in here? You must be sort of carrying a lot of confidence.

ELINA SVITOLINA: Yeah, definitely had a good tournaments leading up to Roland Garros. Of course, winning 250 in Rouen was a good tournament for me. Then playing well in Madrid, Rome as well. I feel like I was finding my game in different conditions.

Yeah, that's what brought me a lot of confidence. So yeah, I'm trying to work on few things here on the day off that I'm going to have, so I'll work on few things that I have to improve. Yeah, just try to bring my best game for the next round.

Q. Do you think you're a better player now than you were when you were No. 3 in the world?

ELINA SVITOLINA: Of course I have all the experience from previous years. I feel like I'm striking the ball bigger. I feel that my serve is working pretty well, as well. At that time I feel like physically I was really tough. Now I feel I have bigger strokes. So a little bit of everything.

But the most important that I have, and I feel like a good thing that I have, is all the experience from previous years being on the top of women's game.

Right now I feel like I'm not so far from top 10. That's my goal for this season, to really be good with my tennis and, of course, ranking-wise.

Q. Is it still complicated for you to be at the tournament with Russian players? It seems like the war in Ukraine is being secondary, how you deal with it. Do you speak about what happened in Ukraine a lot or it becomes the norm?

ELINA SVITOLINA: Well, of course for many people it might be secondary, but for me it's always the first thing that I have on my mind when I wake up. Just yesterday there was a massive attack in Kyiv. It was everywhere, also in news here.

I feel complicated for all the Ukrainians that are on tour still to have the situation. Of course, for me personally is very difficult. I had to really work hard with my psychologist, with the people in my team, to find the ways to feel comfortable in a way.

But of course it's complicated because every single day there is rockets landing in Ukraine. Each time I speak to my parents or my grandmother that are in Ukraine, always bad news.

Yeah, of course it's very heavy still for all of us, all Ukrainians, to have this.

Q. Do you speak of it with players of other nationalities?

ELINA SVITOLINA: No, not really.