Elina Svitolina shares difficult details about sudden back injury and what caused it

Elina Svitolina has revealed some difficult details about her back injury. The 2023 Wimbledon semi-finalist said she was experiencing constant pain and discomfort in early 2024, leading to doubts and fears.

At the Australian Open, Svitolina made a strong start, steadily reaching the round of 16. But then a back problem suddenly appeared and the Ukrainian tennis player had to retire in tears after just three games against Linda Noskova in their match at Melbourne Park.

After the injury, Svitolina was out for a month – and when she returned – she did not look good on court, making several early exits and struggling with consistency. At this Wimbledon event, Svitolina recorded her first notable result in months when she reached the quarterfinals.

“I couldn’t train for more than an hour. I asked myself, ‘Why am I doing this? I’m not 100%.’ My game is all about physicality, so if I’m not strong enough, there’s no point in playing. So actually I had big doubts,” Svitolina told tennis.com.

For Svitolina, sustaining a back injury led to more negative things – the back problem also led to a hip problem. And then Svitolina realized how connected everything in the body was.

“I had pain in my back and hip every day for six months, plus some pain here and there. And it was all because of the back injury I had. The back is of course the most important part of everything,” Svitolina said.

Svitolina on how she solved the problem

Recently, Svitolina went to another group of specialists and asked for another opinion. And it worked, because changes were made in her treatment and after months of struggling with pain and discomfort, the 29-year-old Ukrainian feels pain-free again.

“At the moment I feel like we have finally found the little adjustments that we need to make, and hopefully we can keep that up so that I can see this season all the way to the end,” Svitolina added.

After Wimbledon, Svitolina played at the Olympic Games in Paris, where she was defeated in the round of 16 by Barbora Krejcikova. Svitolina started her summer on hard courts in Toronto last week, but she did not get far after losing in the second round to her compatriot Marta Kostyuk.

So far this week in Cincinnati, Svitolina has defeated Wang Yafan and Jessica Bouzas Maneiro.

Do you remember how Svitolina got injured in the first place and what she said afterward?

In Melbourne, Svitolina absolutely dominated her first three matches. But against Noskova, she seemed to be in pain and discomfort after just one match. After a treatment, Svitolina tried to continue, but that lasted only a few minutes, as she gave up the match and left the court with tears in her eyes.

Svitolina later admitted that she was shocked and overwhelmed by the injury.

“Yes, I had a spasm, or I don’t know exactly what it is, but it was a stabbing pain in the first game, the last two points. Yeah, I couldn’t do anything. My back was completely locked up. Just very sad of course, so yeah,” Svitolina said after her elimination from the Australian Open.

In the same press conference, Svitolina revealed that she had felt some discomfort in her back earlier in the tournament. However, she did not think it was that bad, as minor aches and pains are quite common in tennis.

“I felt a little bit, but that’s quite normal. I’ve played some tennis in this tournament. You know, in the fourth round you have a little bit of stiffness somewhere. Nothing special. It wasn’t a big problem before. Yeah, this time I think I’ve never had that before, that stabbing pain. I’ve had some injuries to my back before, where the next day of the match I was just tired, but this time it really came out of nowhere. I felt like someone shot me in the back, so yeah,” Svitolina explained at the time.

Although Svitolina was shocked by the way her Australian Open career ended, she hoped she would be able to train again within a few days. That, of course, did not happen.

“Yeah, hopefully it’s short-lived. I don’t know. Maybe a spasm or something. But yeah, hopefully I can train again in a week. Of course, I had a long flight. That’s not going to help. In a way, I’ll have to take it day by day, do my recovery, do the scan once I get home, and then see. Hopefully I don’t have anything serious,” Svitolina said.

Fortunately, the new treatment is working well for Svitolina and she certainly hopes it will continue to do so.