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Elina Svitolina's powerful French Open plea before Storm Hunter match

The tennis star delivered an impassioned message about Ukraine after her match.

Seen here, Ukrainian tennis star Elina Svitolina addresses the media.
Ukrainian tennis star Elina Svitolina delivered a powerful message about her homeland after her win at the French Open. Pic: Getty

Ukrainian tennis star Elina Svitolina has delivered a powerful message about her war-ravaged homeland, following a winning grand slam return at the French Open. Svitolina had 14 months out from the sport after giving birth to daughter Skai in October, whom she shares with French men's tennis star and husband, Gael Monfils.

Having struggled since returning to the sport in January, the Ukrainian former World No.3 looked sharp in her first major since becoming a mum, hammering last year's semi-finalist Martina Trevisan 6-2 6-2. The thumping victory for Svitolina sets up a mouthwatering second round clash with Australia's Storm Hunter, who celebrated her first ever grand slam main draw victory in the first round.

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The pair will face off on Wednesday with Hunter given an ample demonstration that the 28-year-old Svitolina has quickly regained a touch of her formidable best. Down to 192 in the rankings after her 14-month absence - only 12 places higher than Hunter - the Ukrainian belied her lowly ranking with a stunning performance that appears to be powered by emotion around her homeland.

"I want to invite everyone to focus on helping Ukrainians," Svitolina told reporters after her match. The 28-year-old already announced she was donating all her Strasbourg prize money to Ukrainian children and has set up a foundation to help those in her war-stricken homeland.

"To help kids, to help women who lost their husbands, because they are at the war and they are fighting for Ukraine. There is so many things that we can do and help in different ways."

Ukraine's war with Russia has already sparked controversy at this French Open, with fans booing Svitolina's compatriot Marta Kostyuk for refusing to shake hands with Belarusian opponent, Aryna Sabalenka. The Ukrainian player also opted not to shake Sabalenka's hand in their previous meeting due to Belarus choosing to help Russia in the war on Ukraine.

Kostyuk has continually called for Russian and Belarusian players to denounce the war on Ukraine. And she clarified that while she doesn't 'hate' Sabalenka, she doesn't respect her.

“I never said that I hate Aryna Sabalenka or any of the players. I just don’t respect her because of her position in this situation,” Kostyuk added. The tennis world was left absolutely baffled at the scenes with many claiming it was not on to target a Ukraine player for making a stand.

Pictured right, Ukrainian tennis star Marta Kostyuk and Aryna Sabalenka on the left.
Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk (pictured right) was booed when she refused to shake hands with Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka (pictured left) after their French Open clash. (Images: Getty Images/@RolandGarros)

Elina Svitolina says empty words won't help Ukraine

Speaking after her own match, Svitolina said it was upsetting for her to see all the distracting noise causing friction within the sport itself. "What I found, I don't know a nicer way to say, but a lot of rubbish is happening around the situation where we have to focus on 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.

"We are missing the main point of all of that and talking, talking, talking about nothing." In terms of her game, the former World No.3 says she feels like she's "getting better" after every match, in what could be an ominous sign for Hunter, ahead of the second round meeting with the Aussie.

"I feel like I'm seeing things a little bit differently as well after the break," she added. "Everything is getting there. The puzzles are getting slowly back into place."

Hunter has only played Svitolina once but it doesn't make for pretty reading for the 28-year-old Aussie. In that match at the Thailand Open three years ago, Hunter only managed to take three games off Svitolina after being comprehensively blown off court. The Aussie will be hoping their next encounter in Paris is much more competitive.

with AAP

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