World No.5 Elina Svitolina says her country ‘will fight until the end’ in their highly anticipated Euro 2020 quarter-final clash with England on Saturday.
The Ukrainian expects all the pressure to be on her country’s opponent who she ranked as the ‘favourite’ out of the two. This year’s Wimbledon Championships has collided with the prestigious football competition with both finals taking place on the same day. Prior to the quarter-finals, England recorded their first knockout win over Germany in a team competition since the 1966 World Cup. Meanwhile, Ukraine downed Sweden 2-1 who are ranked six places higher than them in the FIFA standings.
“It was a really amazing match yesterday, and I was extremely happy to see the team (Ukraine) winning,” Svitolina said following her first round win at Wimbledon.
“You know, we got this chance. It almost was like a Lucky Loser, you would say in tennis terms. But we really used it, and it was amazing that the team was kind of playing well and composed.’
“I heard that there were lots of critics after the two losses. In the end, I think they were playing good and solid, as much as they could.”
Svitolina, who has won 15 WTA titles so far in her career, says her team has nothing to lose and are ‘ready to die’ on the field. The clash will take place in the Italian capital Rome.
“We just have to go there and show our best. And we’re gonna do it, because we are Team Ukraine. We never give up. We just go there and we fight until the end. We die on the field and we do our best.” She said.
Should she make it to the third round her match is scheduled to take place on Saturday. It is possible Svitolina could play during the same time as the football showdown. Should that happen, is she concerned that the English crowd might be rooting against her?
“I think there will be like two people watching my match. I’m used to it now after two years of not having people,” she joked. “I’m completely fine with that. I’m just happy to be playing here.”
In the UK, England’s match against Germany attracted a peak audience of 20.6m viewers on the BBC which represented more than 80 per cent of audience share. The broadcaster was also covering Wimbledon at the same time.
Svitolina will play Magda Linette in the second round of Wimbledon on Thursday.
