At Roland Garros, despite a victory in the second round, Elina Svitolina took a long time to dry her tears. The Ukrainian totally cracked at the press conference, to everyone’s surprise, overwhelmed by the memory of Bobik, her stuffed dog, which she lost two years ago …
After her success in the second round of Roland Garros against Mexican Renata Zarazua (6-3, 0-6, 6-2), Elina Svitolina was all smiles. At a press conference, Gaël Monfils’ companion first commented on her match, talked about her opponent’s game, the withdrawal of Serena Williams or the explosion in the Parisian sky. But a quirky question from UK Live Sports FM reporter Jonathan Pinfield completely confused her.
The reporter simply asked her if her stuffed dog was still with her, if she took him to the various tournaments and if he was helping her in this tournament. The player’s embarrassed smile. “It’s a very good question, but I’m very sad. You will understand, first replied Elina Svitolina. In 2018, I lost it. I forgot it in a room and it is very sad “.
“It was a toy, but it was a talisman”
With these last words, the voice began to tremble. A few seconds pass, emotion overwhelms the player. A tear is flowing. It must be said that this plush, which answered the name of Bobik, was in fact a blanket that followed her since she was three years old. “I lost it…”, continues Elina, who begins to sob again.
The moderator of the press conference, very annoyed, then asks her if she wants to take a few minutes for her and come back later. “It’s OK,” Elina Svitolina replies. After a long pause, she resumes. “It’s like that. It was a toy, but it was a talisman. It was my lucky charm,” sniffs the Ukrainian.
The media in her country then asked her about other subjects in her native language, then Jonathan Pinfield apologized at the end of the press conference. “It was not my intention”, he wrote shortly after on Twitter. Elina Svitolina thanked him with a smile. The fifth in the world, a recent winner of the Strasbourg tournament, and so smiling on the court, showed that she had a weak point.
