Four months ago, just days after her 30th birthday, Elina Svitolina was wheeled out of hospital after ankle surgery.
It was to treat a lingering injury that ended her 2023 season and hampered her throughout 2024. She’d exacerbated it at the Monterrey Open, right before the US Open.
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Defying the pain, Svitolina emerged victorious from a two hour and 20 minute first round battle in New York.
“I had to have a procedure with the doctors to drain the cyst out of my foot,” she recalled on Monday after clinching a place in the Australian Open 2025 quarterfinals. “I couldn't walk the next day, so I didn't practise at all.”
Thanks to that procedure and painkillers, the formidable Ukrainian swept through the second round and pushed then-defending champion Coco Gauff to three sets in the third.
Eager to continue competing at the highest level, the former world No.3 elected to play the long game, making the choice to end her season to treat the ankle as well as an associated back issue, with the goal of returning stronger.
“There was no other way to be pain free,” she told the Served with Andy Roddick podcast in November.
Before surgery Svitolina had been nervous about undergoing a general anaesthetic and concerned about regaining full mobility of her foot.
“When you are a top athlete, you are worried little bit if you can come back to the top level, if you can actually move after,” said Svitolina, who now has two screws in her ankle.
But her recovery went to script, and her first tournament since that harrowing US Open couldn’t be going better – she’s into the last eight in Melbourne for the first time since 2019.
The 28th seed dropped one set through her first four matches, including against fourth seed Jasmine Paolini in the third round - ultimately toppling the Italian. She’s relatively fresh, notching five hours and 54 minutes on court, roughly an hour less than her next opponent, 19th seed Madison Keys.
“I'm really happy with my fitness, I'm really happy with the way I've been handling tough physical matches."
For Svitolina, every victory carries enhanced meaning: her nation has been at war for almost three years and she derives motivation knowing her results offer good news to fans back home.
“The Spirit of Ukraine,” she wrote after Monday’s win.
“This fighting spirit that I have is completely Ukrainian spirit that I try to show, that I try to represent,” she said.
In 2019, she started a foundation with programmes including developing junior tennis talent and managing the country’s Billie Jean King Cup team. She’s hit balls with compatriots who have lost limbs in the conflict.
“It's on a daily basis a very heavy rucksack that all Ukrainians have on their backs,” she said.
“For me to find a way to win matches, to find a way to bring a little light, a little win for Ukrainian people is something that I feel I am responsible [for].”
“To bring the fight is the least that I can do,” she added.
As her pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title continues in Melbourne, Svitolina draws inspiration from Kim Clijsters, the popular Belgian who won three of her four singles majors after returning to the sport after childbirth.
“She’s an idol, I was always looking [at] how she was winning, gave to all the mothers hope,” Svitolina said on Roddick's podcast.
“It’s a double motivation when you come back after a child,” she said. Svitolina reached a Wimbledon semifinal and Roland Garros quarterfinal in 2023, just months after giving birth in October 2022.
She's in a cohort of players including Naomi Osaka, Belinda Bencic and Victoria Azarenka, who are all aiming to become the first mother since Clijsters to lift a major crown.
As she works towards that target, the support of husband Gael Monfils, who reached the fourth round at AO 2025, has been invaluable.
“It means a lot to us to have someone who understands,” she said.
While Monfils’ journey in Melbourne will continue in the role of supporter, Svitolina will leave everything on court.
“Now it's actually where the tournament starts… you're playing against the players who have been here for many times and know how to deal with different kind of pressure situations,” she said. If she makes it past Keys, she'll tackle either second seed Iga Swiatek or eighth seed Emma Navarro.
“I need to put my head down and put the work in… I believe that I can make it.”