Elina Svitolina marks her 500th week in the world's Top 100, precisely a decade since she broke that barrier for the first time as a teenager in 2013.
Svitolina stayed inside the Top 100 club between 2013 and 2021 without dropping out at any point and enjoying seismic success on the WTA tour. She was ranked as high as World No. 3 in the first phase of her career before becoming a parent.
Svitolina tallied 212 consecutive weeks in the world's Top 10 - the fourth-longest among active and the 23rd-longest streak in WTA history. Svitolina fell outside the world's Top 100 for the first time in 2022 after a subpar start to the season and took an indefinite break from tennis.
But a few months down the line, she announced that she was pregnant with her first child. Svitolina welcomed a baby daughter named Skai, together with her husband, Gael Monfils, in October 2022. Despite maternity leave setting her career back, Svitolina was still taking an active role in the sport.
She participated in multiple exhibition tournaments and galas at a time when her country was in dire need of financial and military aid following the invasion by Russia. Svitolina announced her intention to rejoin the tour, doing so at the start of the clay court swing in 2023.
Having started the season ranked outside the Top 1000, Svitolina enjoyed a swift return to form in the second phase of her career, reaching her first WTA final as a mother in Strasbourg, less than two months since she resumed competing again.
Svitolina won that tournament, beating Russia's Anna Blinkova in the final, and winning the 17th WTA title of her career. She would reach the quarterfinal of Roland Garros and the semifinal of Wimbledon, the hallmark of that run being her incredible three-set win over Iga Swiatek at SW19.
Svitolina has managed to re-enter the Top 100 again this year and is currently ranked at the dizzying heights of the Top 25. The Ukrainian star shut down her season after the US Open in a bid to regain her focus, but is also reportedly injured having pulled out from an exhibition event in Texas during the off-season.
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