Elina Svitolina has 2019 on her strings. After coming off a season-ending victory at the Tour finals in Singapore, she has momentum and form on her side as she begins her Brisbane International title defence.
The Ukrainian won four titles in 2018, with Brisbane and Singapore bookending victories in Rome and Dubai.
She enters the new year as world No.4 with back-to-back Brisbane titles firmly on her radar.
“It’s amazing to start here,” she said. “This tournament is very nicely organised and the fans are great.
“All the time that I play on the court [here], it doesn’t matter, in the daytime or night-time, they make electric atmosphere, and that’s very important.
“Being a champion here is a great memory for sure, and a good start to the season.”
Top seed @ElinaSvitolina on top of Brisbane! pic.twitter.com/XKVsi6MnJQ
— #BrisbaneTennis (@BrisbaneTennis) December 28, 2018
With conditions in Brisbane similar to those in Melbourne, the 24-year-old is hoping to use the week at the Queensland Tennis Centre as a springboard for bigger things in 2019.
“My goals are always to win a Grand Slam, to become No.1,” Svitolina said.
“They are life-time goals, and I try to stay really focused each tournament to win as many as I can.”
Victory at the WTA Finals in Singapore, in which she went undefeated against Petra Kvitova, Karolina Pliskova, Caroline Wozniacki, Kiki Bertens, and Sloane Stephens, has only instilled further belief in Svitolina’s ability.
“It was amazing to win in Singapore,” she said. “It’s a big push for me and a good step to have the opportunity to win.”
That triumph, however, erased any plans of much downtime back home in Ukraine in the off-season.
Two weeks off the court and in front of media wasn’t the ideal rest for Svitolina, but she accepted the responsibility that came with her growing standing in Ukraine.
“I was actually maybe for two weeks very busy with all the media, all the commitments I had to do in Ukraine,” she said.
“Of course, it’s very enjoyable, but at the same time it was very exhausting because I wanted to do everything, and in the end I was waking up at like 6 and finishing at 10.
“So it took a lot of energy out of me. But I really enjoyed some of the things that I had to do – meeting the fans, meeting the press and sharing this special moment with them.”
Svitolina faces Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich on Wednesday night on Pat Rafter Arena in a rematch of last year’s final.