In 2025, the Ukrainian tennis star posted a 35-15 record and finished the year ranked No. 14 in the world.
Before quitting her season back in September because she wasn’t in the right emotional space to compete, Svitolina was largely having a consistent year. In the first three months of 2025, the Ukrainian reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open and Indian Wells.
During the clay-court season, the 31-year-old enjoyed several deep runs, having won the WTA 250 tournament in Rouen, reaching the semi-finals in Madrid and reaching the quarter-finals in Rome and the French Open.
Had Svitolina joined the Asian swing late in the year, she could have attacked the top 10 rankings.
In making his predictions for the 2026 season, former world number 1 Roddick credited the Ukrainian for what she was able to do in a limited number of tournaments last year, and also named her as one of the players who could make some noise this year.
Roddick: Svitolina never really beats herself out of anything
“Svitolina, win-loss by the way, you see a lot of players just above .500 making the top 30. I think she was 37 and 15 this year. She’s just there every week and maybe plays a little bit more of a more austere schedule than most players, which is understandable. But she doesn’t really beat herself out of anything. Hyper intelligent player, completely self-aware and dangerous on faster surfaces,” the 2003 US Open champion said on the US website Open. Served with Andy Roddick.
Although Svitolina’s best results came on clay in 2025, Roddick believes the Ukrainian’s play on the faster surfaces is the biggest danger.
“I think she needs, or at least prefers, those faster surfaces at this point in her career,” Roddick added.
In the past, Svitolina reached two Wimbledon semi-finals and also has one US Open semi-final on her resume.
Svitolina will play two tournaments in the first week of 2026 as she uses Auckland to prepare for the Australian Open.
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