Venus Williams lost a tough match in the first round of Wimbledon to Elina Svitolina after getting injured at the beginning of the first set. However, instead of retiring, the tennis legend tried to fight until the end before losing 6-4, 6-3. The match point was a little bit of a thriller since a shot from Svitolina was wrongly called out, but that didn’t affect Venus Williams, who couldn’t put the ball in. The umpire rightly assigned the point to the Ukrainian player who won the match.
Venus stunned many fans by refusing to give a handshake to the umpire for the correct decision. The American player was heavily criticized for that on social media.
Later, Venus took to social media to talk about the importance of fighting and not crying. However, the last part was a bit weird when she said that she “believes in being a good sport.”
In that long paragraph, she failed to apologize to the umpire for her behavior, which was definitely not a good example in terms of sportsmanship.
Here was her statement.
“I’m not sure how I managed to smile in this moment but I don’t remember my face looking like this…pleasant…I felt just the opposite. I felt like everything slipped away from me so quickly and I was disappointed that I wasn’t stronger to pull out the match despite the circumstances.
I’m happy I can look back at this moment and see I smiled. I felt like crying. But as an fyi I didn’t cry. I don’t have time for crying when I’m trying to get to the next level. I sat in the locker room right after thinking…to figure out what I could learn from this and plotting how I was going to be better.
I believe in less time crying and more time working.
I also believe in being a good sport. You win and lose in life. You can’t cry when you are losing. You have to get to learning. It’s a bad sport if you can’t at least try to be a good sports person in the moment of defeat and allow your opponent to enjoy their moment of victory…until your moment comes.”
Venus Williams in 2023
LL Currently ranked no.558, Venus Williams played her last match on the 3rd of July when she was overcome by world no.76 Elina Svitolina 6-4 6-3 in the 1st round in Wimbledon (draw).
At present, during this year Venus has an overall 2-4 match record.
Svitolina in Wimbledon, ranking, and results in 2023
LLWLWLLWLW Currently ranked no.76, the Ukrainian has a composed 13-8 record in 2023. The Ukrainian is currently playing in Wimbledon where she ousted the world no.558 Venus Williams 6-4 6-3.
Elina Svitolina will play the world no.28 Elise Mertens in the 2nd round. Their current head to head is 3-2 for Svitolina.
Elina has won 1 title in 2023 in Strasbourg.
Svitolina won 17 titles in her career: 9 on hard courts, 6 on clay courts and 2 on indoor courts. (See the list of her titles)
She is also scheduled to play at the U.S. Open (U.S. Open) after Washington. The main draw will start on the 31st of July.
Venus Williams and Elina Svitolina fought against each other 5 times. The head to head is 4-1 for Svitolina. Previously, the last time they locked horns, Elina Svitolina won 6-4 6-3 in the 1st round in London (Wimbledon) on the 3rd of July 2023.
Here are the highlights.
Venus Williams and Elina Svitolina |
| Embed from Getty Images |
