Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in action against Emma Navarro of the United States in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., on March 11, 2024
lina Svitolina woke up on a mid-March morning in Palm Springs, Calif., where she was staying for a few days after competing in the Indian Wells tennis tournament, to scary but all-too-familiar news: Russia had attacked Odesa, her hometown in Ukraine, once again. This time, Russian ballistic missiles had struck a residential area in the Black Sea port city, killing at least 20 people and wounding more than 70, according to Ukrainian authorities.
“People are kind of used to the attacks, which is impossible, I guess, for us who will never experience these kinds of situations to understand,” Svitolina tells TIME. “It’s just very, very sad what's going on right now.” While each of the other matchups will have a hometown crowd, the war made it impossible for Ukraine to host as it was supposed to. “We have to think about the safety of teams, of the people, and right now it's not even an option to play in Ukraine,” says Svitolina. “One day, we will hopefully have good news of Ukraine winning this war, and we will be hosting many more matches in Ukraine.
She plans to represent Ukraine at this summer’s Paris Olympics and believes the restrictions on Russian participation are insufficient. Though they will be excluded from the opening ceremonies, individual athletes from Russia and Belarus, which has aided Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, will be eligible to compete in the Games, just not under their country’s flags. Svitolina thinks Russian athletes should be barred altogether.
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