"People now see that I can play and I can win titles": Elina Svitolina admits higher expectations since incredible pregnancy return

After her return just over a year ago, Elina Svitolina started slow but managed to gather a real head of steam reaching the latter stages of almost all Grand Slams and having one of the biggest ranking rises of the season. She ended up as WTA Newcomer of the Year and even through injuries managed to battle through them and will play in Dubai over the next week.

She reached the final of the ASB Classic to start the season before injuries gave a heartbreaking end against Linda Noskova in the fourth round in a section that potentially would've opened up for the Ukrainian. But after a few weeks out, she restarts her campaign after saying she felt like she'd been shot in the back in Melbourne against Anhelina Kalinina. A lot has changed in 1`2 months and this includes the expectations placed on the new mother who is having some of the best form of her career and has shown that she can win titles and compete with the best with a new game style that is even better than pre Skai Svitolina.

“I would say now there are more expectations from me, because people now see that I can play and I can win some titles and I can challenge big players,” Svitolina said in Dubai.

“But for me it’s really important to put the work in every day, in every practice. Just keep focused on the work that I have to do and the priority really is to be healthy. When I’m healthy I can play well, I can go far in the tournaments, so for me that’s the priority right now.”