Sawt Falasteen - Ukraine's Svitolina admits weight of pressure after Wimbledon exit

The 28-year-old, who only returned from maternity leave in April, went down 6-3, 6-3 to the unseeded Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic.

Watched by Ukraine's ambassador to Britain, Vadym Prystaiko, she briefly threatened a fightback in the second set, coming back from 4-0 down to 4-3 but then ran out of steam.

Svitolina said representing war-torn Ukraine was a major motivating factor but added: "It's a lot of responsibility, a lot of tension."

"I try to balance it as much as I can," she added. "But, yeah, sometimes it gets maybe too much.

"But I don't want to take it as an excuse that I lost today."

Svitolina, who reached the quarter-finals at this year's French Open, said the love and support shown to her at the All England Club had been "unbelievable".

"Even today when I was down, I got a lot of support," she said. "I'm really thankful for the crowd to support me, be there for me, and all Ukrainian people as well.

"They support us quite a lot in different kinds of ways, for a lot of Ukrainians who arrived here when the war started. Really thankful for all the people to support us in different levels."

Svitolina said would be "very happy" to see her nine-month-old daughter Skai and her husband, French tennis player Gael Monfils, again.

"It will be the best moment," she added.

E.AbuRizq--SF-PST