Desperate to grab some of the attention her parents Mikhaylo and Olena showered on her older brother Yulian, in 1999 Svitolina began pounding furry tennis balls with all the power she could muster from her five-year-old body.
“My brother was playing tennis... and he was getting all the attention from my parents. So because of him I started playing tennis and for me it was very important to play well so that I could get more attention from my parents,” she told Reuters in a telephone interview from Rome.
“They were so into tennis, they were travelling with my brother. So playing tennis myself was the only way I could get their attention. It really motivated me and I became the best in my group.”
Almost two decades on, the blonde 23-year-old is not far off from becoming the best in the world.
Now ranked fourth, Svitolina has been installed as one of the favourites to lift the Suzanne Lenglen Cup after she destroyed top ranked Simona Halep in the Italian Open final to win her 12th title on Sunday.
But having bagged more tennis trophies than any other Ukrainian — Andriy Medvedev held the previous record of 11 — what Svitolina really wants is to conquer the top ranking.
“Definitely for me, my goal is to be number one. In Ukraine, being number one is something bigger (than winning a grand slam) because lots of people (notice you) if you are number one in the world,” said Svitolina, who has a large tiger draped with a necklace tattooed on her left thigh.
“For the tennis world, winning a grand slam might be better but for people who do not know tennis, being number one gets more attention.”
At Roland Garros, she will not only want to improve on her two quarter-final appearances but will also hope to emulate a feat last achieved by one of her former coaches, Justine Henin. A junior champion in 1997, the Belgian went on to win four French Open titles from 2003 to 2007.
Svitolina hopes some of the lessons she learnt from Henin during their year-long association in 2016 will help her to become the first woman since her former mentor to achieve the junior and women’s title double.
“There were small details that she told me that I have to do on court and off court. She shared a lot of her experience with me,” Svitolina, who captured the junior title aged 15 in 2010, said.
And what about her brother, is he too scared to play her now? “Yeah! The last time we played against each other was probably when I was 12,” she added with a laugh.
