At the French Open, a Ukrainian mom makes her comeback
Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, once the world’s third-ranked tennis player, is into the French Open third round in her first major tournament since childbirth.
Svitolina, 28, swept 2022 French Open semifinalist Martina Trevisan of Italy, then beat Australian qualifier Storm Hunter 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 to reach the last 32 at Roland Garros. France’s top player, fifth seed Caroline Garcia, or 56th-ranked Russian Anna Blinkova is next.
Her husband, French player Gael Monfils, finished his first-round five-set win after midnight on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. Svitolina watched that match on a computer before going to sleep ahead of her 11 a.m. start Wednesday.
“This morning, he told me, ‘I’m coming to your match, so make it worth it,'” she joked on Tennis Channel. “I was like, OK, no pressure.
“I don’t know what he’s doing here now. He should be resting.”
FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men | Broadcast Schedule
Svitolina made at least one major quarterfinal every year from 2017 through 2021, including the semifinals at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 2019. She married Monfils one week before the Tokyo Olympics, then won a singles bronze medal.
Svitolina played her last match before maternity leave on March 24, 2022, one month after Russia invaded her country. She gave birth to daughter Skai on Oct. 15.
Svitolina returned to competition in April. Last week, she won the tournament preceding the French Open, sweeping Blinkova to improve to 17-3 in her career in finals. She’s playing on a protected ranking of 27th after her year absence and, now, on a seven-match win streak.
“It was always in my head the plan to come back, but I didn’t put any pressure on myself, because obviously with the war going on, with the pregnancy, you never know how complicated it will go,” she said. “I’m as strong as I was before, maybe even stronger, because I feel that I can handle the work that I do off the court, and match by match I’m getting better. Also mentally, because mental can influence your physicality, as well.”
Svitolina said she’s motivated by goals to attain before she retires from the sport and to help Ukraine, such as donating her prize money from last week’s title in Strasbourg.
“These moments bring joy to people of Ukraine, to the kids as well, the kids who loved to play tennis before the war, and now maybe they don’t have the opportunity,” she said. “But these moments that can motivate them to look on the bright side and see these good moments and enjoy themselves as much as they can in this horrible situation.”
Svitolina said that she’s noticed “a lot of rubbish” concerning how tennis is reacting to the war.
“We have to focus on what the main point of what is going on,” she said. “Ukrainian people need help and need support. We are focusing on so many things like empty words, empty things that are not helping the situation, not helping anything.
“I want to invite everyone to focus on helping Ukrainians. That’s the main point of this, to help kids, to help women who lost their husbands because they are at the war, and they are fighting for Ukraine.
“You can donate. Couple of dollars might help and save lives. Or donate your time to something to help people.”
OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!
Follow @nbcolympictalk
Olympic 100m champion Marcell Jacobs of Italy will miss another scheduled clash with world 100m champion Fred Kerley, withdrawing from Friday’s Diamond League meet in Florence.
Jacobs, 28, has not recovered from the nerve pain that forced him out of last Sunday’s Diamond League meet in Rabat, Morocco, according to Italy’s track and field federation.
In his absence, Kerley’s top competition will be fellow American Trayvon Bromell, the world bronze medalist, and Kenyan Ferdinand Omanyala, the world’s fastest man this year at 9.84 seconds. Kerley beat both of them in Rabat.
The Florence Diamond League airs live on Peacock on Friday from 2-4 p.m. ET.
Jacobs has withdrawn from six scheduled head-to-heads with Kerley dating to May 2022 due to a series of health issues since that surprise gold in Tokyo.
Kerley, primarily a 400m sprinter until the Tokyo Olympic year, became the world’s fastest man in Jacobs’ absence. He ran a personal best 9.76 seconds, the world’s best time of 2022, at last June’s USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships. Then he led a U.S. sweep of the medals at July’s worlds.
Jacobs’ next scheduled race is a 100m at the Paris Diamond League on June 9. Kerley is not in that field, but world 200m champion Noah Lyles is.
The last time the reigning Olympic and world men’s 100m champions met in a 100m was the 2012 London Olympic final between Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake. From 2013 to 2017, Bolt held both titles, then retired in 2017 while remaining reigning Olympic champion until Jacobs’ win in Tokyo, where Kerley took silver.
OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!
Follow @nbcolympictalk
The French Open airs live on NBC Sports, Peacock and Tennis Channel through championship points at Roland Garros in Paris.
Tennis Channel has live daily coverage with NBC and Peacock coming back for the middle weekend, plus the men’s and women’s singles semifinals and finals.
All NBC TV coverage also streams on NBCSports.com/live and the NBC Sports app.
It’s the first French Open since 2004 without Rafael Nadal, the record 14-time champion who is out with a hip injury and hopes to return next year for a likely final time.
In his place, the favorites are top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic, who is tied with Nadal for the men’s record 22 Grand Slam singles titles.
FRENCH OPEN DRAWS: Women | Men
No. 1 Iga Swiatek of Poland is favored to claim a third French Open title, a year after beating American Coco Gauff in the final. She bids to join Serena Williams and Justine Henin as the lone women to win the French Open three or more times since 2000.
Two Americans are ranked in the top six in the world — No. 3 Jessica Pegula and Gauff.
The last American to win a major singles title was Sofia Kenin at the 2020 Australian Open. The 11-major drought matches the longest in history (since 1877) for American men and women combined.
MORE: All you need to know for 2023 French Open
OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!
Follow @nbcolympictalk
2023 French Open Broadcast Schedule
Date Time (ET) Platform Round Sunday, May 28 5 a.m.-4 p.m. Tennis Channel First Round 12-3 p.m. Peacock (STREAM LINK) Monday, May 29 5 a.m.-3 p.m. Tennis Channel First Round 11 a.m.-3 p.m. NBC (STREAM) | Peacock (STREAM) 3-5:30 p.m. Peacock (STREAM LINK) Tuesday, May 30 5 a.m.-5 p.m. Tennis Channel First Round Wednesday, May 31 5 a.m.-5 p.m. Tennis Channel Second Round Thursday, June 1 5 a.m.-5 p.m. Tennis Channel Second Round Friday, June 2 5 a.m.-5 p.m. Tennis Channel Third Round Saturday, June 3 5 a.m.-1 p.m. Tennis Channel Third Round 12-3 p.m. NBC (STREAM) | Peacock (STREAM) 3-5:30 p.m. Peacock (STREAM LINK) Sunday, June 4 5 a.m.-1 p.m. Tennis Channel Fourth Round 12-3 p.m. NBC (STREAM) | Peacock (STREAM) 3-5:30 p.m. Peacock (STREAM LINK) Monday, June 5 5 a.m.-5 p.m. Tennis Channel Fourth Round Tuesday, June 6 5 a.m.-12 p.m. Tennis Channel Quarterfinals 2-5 p.m. Tennis Channel Wednesday, June 7 5 a.m.-12 p.m. Tennis Channel Quarterfinals 2-5 p.m. Tennis Channel Thursday, June 8 6 a.m.-2 p.m. Tennis Channel Women’s Semifinals 11 a.m.-2 p.m. NBC (STREAM) | Peacock (STREAM) Friday, June 9 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Tennis Channel Men’s Semifinals 11 a.m.-3 p.m. NBC (STREAM) | Peacock (STREAM) Saturday, June 10 9 a.m.-2 p.m. NBC (STREAM) | Peacock (STREAM) Women’s Final Sunday, June 11 9 a.m.-2 p.m. NBC (STREAM) | Peacock (STREAM) Men’s Final
