Izuchukwu OkosiElina Svitolina defeated No. 1-ranked Iga Swiatek 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-2 to reach the semifinals of the 2023 Wimbledon Open at the All England Club.
Svitolina was Grand Slam semifinalist twice in 2019 and will be looking to get one Vondrousova place better than those feats.
However, something less enthusiastic has enveloped the WTA queen of the court – her daughter and the war in her native Ukraine.
Svitolina’s daughter, Skaï was born in October 2022 while the war on Ukraine by Russia whose invasion began on February 2022.
Svitolina firmly believes that those quite different factors actually do affect the way she swings a racket and the way she handles important moments on a tennis court.
“War made me stronger and also made me mentally stronger. Mentally, I don’t take difficult situations as, like, a disaster, you know?
“There are worse things in life. I’m just more calmer,” said Svitolina, 28, who once was ranked as high No. 3 and now is No. 76 after taking time off to start a family with her husband, tennis player Gael Monfils.
Svitolina only returned to the tour three months ago.
“Also, because I just started to play again, I have different pressures,” Svitolina said after kneeling down, then covering her face with her hands, when Swiatek missed one last forehand at Centre Court.
“Of course, I want to win. I have this motivation, like huge motivation, to come back to the top. But I think having a child — and war — made me a different person. I look at the things a bit differently.”
She received a wild-card entry from the All England Club to get into the field and now will face another unseeded player, 42nd-ranked Marketa Vondrousova, for a berth in Saturday’s final.
Vondrousova, the 2019 French Open runner-up, beat fourth-seeded Jessica Pegula 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 by grabbing the last five games after being a point from trailing 5-1 in the last set at No. 1 Court. Pegula dropped to 0-6 in major quarterfinals.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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