There was a look of mild shock on the face of Elina Svitolina in the moments after her Wimbledon quarter-final opponent, the top seed, Iga Swiatek hit one final forehand into the net.
That shot sent Svitolina through to her first Grand Slam semi-final since 2019.
“I don’t really know what is happening right now in my head,” she told the BBC moments after her victory. “It’s just really unbelievable… At the beginning of the tournament, if someone had told me and my team that we would be in the semi-final and beaten the world No 1, I would have just said that they are crazy.”
Why the shock? Well, since her last appearance in a grand slam at last year’s Australian Open (where she was swept aside with ease by Victoria Azarenka in the third round), the 28-year-old has not only been dealing with the mental and emotional impact of her country Ukraine being invaded by Russia but she has become a parent to daughter Skai, born in October 2022.
It was once a rare occurrence to see a female athlete return to the top of their sport after giving birth. For a variety of reasons, both physical and practical, the majority felt that they had to make a choice between their sport and their desire to start a family.
In tennis, Margaret Court and Evonne Goolagong Cawley bucked that trend…
