Elina Svitolina was inundated with messages of support (Image: Getty)
Elina Svitolina has revealed that she received a wealth of messages of support from American fans following heated meeting with . The President of the United States hosted the Ukrainian leader at the White House last month, where he told Zelensky that he was “gambling with World War III” before cutting off US support for as it fights back against a Russian invasion that has lasted more than three years.
Trump and Vice President JD Vance both got into a shouting match with Zelensky in their fiery meeting. However, the US have since lifted its pause in intelligence sharing and resumed security assistance to . On Tuesday, Trump also agreed a 30-day ceasefire agreement with that will now be presented to . Ukrainian Svitolina, who dumped American – daughter of billionaire Terry – out of Indian Wells earlier this week, divulged that she had received a massive outpour of support following the fractious meeting. She explained: “I feel like since that meeting in the Oval Office, I got a lot of messages of support from the American people and a lot of people here when I arrived at the tournament, giving love and support to Ukrainians for people back at home.
“Also the massive support that I got taking in consideration that I played three American girls back-to-back. It’s amazing, really special to get that, taking into consideration all the stress that all Ukrainians are facing right now back at home.” The US have since confirmed that they will resume providing military aid to after Kyiv said that it was willing to support Washington’s proposal for a 30-day ceasefire with .
It comes as 30-year-old Svitolina has enjoyed quite the tournament at the Indian Wells Open. The star bested Ashlyn Krueger in her opening match before defeating Danielle Collins in the round of 32. After losing the first set 7-5 in her following match with , Svitolina bounced back with sets of 6-1, 6-2 to oust the billionaire heiress from the competition.
She will next come up against Russian Mirra Andreeva in the quarter-finals of the competition on Thursday – an opponent who has highlighted the challenges of playing against someone who is so outspoken about the current conflict between their respective homelands. During a post-match press conference, the 17-year-old said: “Yeah, of course it’s not easy, but, you know, I have played maybe, I don’t know, four or five matches against Ukrainian players.
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“And me, I just try not to think about it. I just try to focus on my game, to do my routines, to prepare myself that it’s not going to be easy.” She added: “Yeah, I’m just going to try to prepare for this match as for every other match, and nothing’s going to change for me.
“So yeah, I’m just going to do my routines and stick to what I have been doing a week before.” Svitolina has previously refused to shake hands with Russian and Belarusian players and is expected to do so again when she meets the teenager on Wednesday.