Tennis player Elina Svitolina has been honored with a fundraising role for her home country, as announced by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
President Zelensky runs a fundraising support for Ukraine called United24, launched on May 5 as a response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and now he’s named Svitolina the global initiative’s new ambassador. Together with the platform’s first ambassador, former football player Andriy Shevchenko, Svitolina will work to unite the world’s sports communities around helping her home country.
Since the start of the war, Svitolina has been active in raising awareness about the unfortunate events happening in Ukraine and the President thanked her for that.
“In order not to reduce the attention to Ukraine, we need to actively tell people from other countries about us. Therefore, among the key tasks of United24 is not only fundraising, but also additional attention to Ukraine, to our struggle for freedom,” said President Zelensky.
“Every time I won on the court, I was happy to bring victory to my country. I have always been proud to be Ukrainian. Today, when my country is facing a terrible enemy, I will not stay away. I will do everything possible for Ukraine to win its most important victory. It is an honor for me to join United24 and join forces with the President of Ukraine,” said the former world number three Svitolina.
A charity match featuring world number one Iga Swiatek is planned under the patronage of Svitolina at the end of July.
The 27-year-old Svitolina is currently not playing on the Hologic WTA Tour, as she’s pregnant with her first child (the baby is due in October). The last tournament she played was the Miami Open, where she lost in the second round to Great Britain’s Heather Watson.
Good luck to her and her country.