“Pain-free” Elina Svitolina checks into Cincinnati, talks reunion with coach Andrew Bettles

CINCINNATI—I made my first trip to the Cincinnati Open in 2019, and Elina Svitolina was there to tell me all about the city that, well, it definitely sleeps.

“I’ve been here many times, and I always stay in the same hotel,” she said at the time. Feeling it bore repeating she added, “I really love that hotel!”

My image of the world No. 3’s surely five-star amenities was shattered the following morning when I ran nearly headlong into Svitolina in the stairwell of my hotel, which was decidedly off the beaten path in Blue Ash.

Not to be a snob, but when reminding her of our run-in after her second-round win at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, I had to ask: Made-to-order pancakes aside, what was it about that hotel?

“I really did like to come back to that hotel,” she laughingly insisted, having since switched to more spacious lodgings to better accommodate husband/fellow player Gaël Monfils and daughter Skaï.

“They didn’t really do any renovations from the first time I stayed there, back when I played qualies! But I really like Cincinnati. It’s a nice touch of the tournament that they give us a car each year. You can go places, choose where to have dinner. I take Skaï to the parks. We can do so many things in a calm way, so I really enjoy being here before the rush of New York.”

Calm is exactly what Svitolina needed after a hectic first half of 2024, one bogged down by injuries to her back and hip. Speaking frankly about her prognosis at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, the 29-year-old admitted to daily pain that was hindering what had hitherto been a wildly successful comeback from maternity leave.

“I couldn’t practice for more than an hour,” she told me. “I was asking myself, ‘Why am I doing this? I’m not 100%.’ My game is about physicality, so if I don’t have my strength, there’s no point to play. So really, I had big doubts.”

I was asking myself, ‘Why am I doing this? I’m not 100%.’ My game is about physicality, so if I don’t have my strength, there’s no point to play. So really, I had big doubts. Elina Svitolina

Unconscious compensation for an off-season foot injury caused her back to go out in the fourth round of this year’s Australian Open, a tournament she had a shot at winning given her place in the draw.

Refusing to take an extended break, she played through the pain—and the continued emotional toll of representing Ukraine in the midst of Russia and Belarus’ invasion—until making what she called “one last push.” Just before Wimbledon, she upended her routine and sought the advice of new doctors who recommended a series of adjustments that have effectively alleviated his discomfort.

“Every single day for six months, I had pain in my back and my hip, on top of pains here and there,” she said. “And it was all because of the back injury that happened. The back is obviously the major part of everything.”

The effect was almost immediate: she returned to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon and upset Jessica Pegula at the Summer Olympic Games in Paris. Through to the third round in Cincinnati, she’ll next face No. 3 seed Aryna Sabalenka in a rematch of a nail-biter in Rome that saw Svitolina earn three match points before falling in a final-set tiebreaker.

“Right now, I feel we finally found the small adjustments that we have to do, and hopefully we can continue so I can finish this season all the way to the end.”

She made an even bigger adjustment when she decided to split with coach Raemon Sluiter, who had shepherded her back on tour in the two years after she gave birth to Skaï. Under Sluiter, she reached the quarter- and semifinals of Roland Garros and Wimbledon, results that helped her build her ranking back to a season-ending finish of No. 25.

“I think it all came together with the injury, and also mentally, it was very difficult for me during this time, for the six months when I was feeling the pain. A lot of things were in grey colors for me. I felt like I wanted fresh air.”

The fresh air is coming from a familiar voice in Andrew Bettles, who worked with Svitolina for the bulk of her career before splitting in 2021.

“We were in the middle of the season, so I needed to find someone I felt good with straightaway,” she explained. “With Andy, we kept the contact and he finished with Jil [Teichmann]. Everything just came together like this! So far, so good. We tried to work on a few things here and there, and hopefully we can work for another few years.”

Painting with brighter colors—and at last staying in nicer hotels—Svitolina is suddenly much more open-ended in describing her career, sending a warning flare to the field as she heads into the final major tournament of the year.