"My goal was top 100": Svitolina didn't have high expectations on return to tour after motherhood

Elina Svitolina revealed that her goal upon returning to the WTA tour was to reach the top 100 after falling in the third round of the US Open to Jessica Pegula.

The Ukrainian, seeded 26th, has perhaps been the great comeback story of the season. After becoming a mother, she spent several months away from competition, and upon her return to the tour, she was at a ranking position of 1344 in the WTA Ranking.

However, Svitolina's last three months have been remarkable, with achievements including winning the WTA 250 Estrasburgo Open, reaching the quarterfinals of the French Open, and making it to the semifinals at Wimbledon, in addition to this third-round appearance at Flushing Meadows.

Following her defeat to Jessica Pegula by 4-6, 6-4, 2-6, Svitolina spoke in a press conference about her goal to return to the top 100 and expressed her joy at having returned to the upper echelons of the ranking in a short period of time:

“Well, to be fair, my goal was to enter top 100 when I started playing in March (smiling). For sure I'm happy with the matches I had. There are some matches, of course, disappointed, and I wish I could play better, like the semifinal Wimbledon, today,” Svitolina said.

“Today little bit different situation. Physically I couldn't push more. Again, in Washington against Jess, it was closer match there. So couple of matches here and there I wish I could there. So couple of matches here and there I wish I could play better.”

“I'm very happy with the tournaments that I played, and with the season, I'm close to top 20, to come back. Yeah, I'm taking a lot of positives from this.”

Certainly, Svitolina entered as the 26th seed and currently appears as the World No. 25 in the live rankings, still awaiting the results from the US Open. However, she is getting closer and closer to the top 20, and she has no points to defend for the rest of the year, which means she has good chances of continuing to advance in the rankings.

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