Tennis : Svitolina dompte Anisimova and file in quarters

Elina Svitolina, version 2025: sharp, hungry, indomitable

There are double wins. Not for the ranking. Not for the prize money. But for what they say of a state of mind, of a trajectory, of a return. Elina Svitolina, this Tuesday in Montreal, did more than just release Amanda Anisimova in two sets. She sent a message.

The one of a player who no longer returns to the circuit. It is already returned. And she wants more.

« Je suis contente de la manière dont j’ai joué, de mon déplacement… parce qu’Amanda frappe très fort », a-t-elle confié, encore transpirante, en conférence de presse. Une phrase simple, mais lourde de sens. Car cette victoire-là, contre une finaliste de Wimbledon en pleine bourre, elle ne s’est pas construite avec des fulgurances. Elle s’est construite avec body, timing and cold blood. Everything Svitolina had lost at one time. Everything she's been back in force in recent months.

Montreal, and the art of timing

This tournament, she plays it as a solidity test. Not like a baroud d'honneur or a comms operation before the US Open. Montreal is serious. And in front of Anisimova, she pulled out the perfect plan: to temporize when necessary, counter-attack accurately, vary the heights to break the rhythm of the American.

No pointless show. No warrior screams. Just from Surgical tennis, the style that makes the opponent grimacer without anyone really understanding how the game is already over.

That's right, Elina Svitolina version 2025: a quiet force, calculator and formidable.

A shock of styles against Osaka

Now what? Place in Naomi Osaka. Another coming back, but in a completely different register. Osaka, it's fire. Svitolina is the ice. On one side, a player knocking as if every ball could validate a artillery certificate. On the other hand, a player who absorbs, revives, causes a break. We know the recipe. What makes it thrilling is that nobody knows if it's going to work.

« Jouer contre Amanda m’a permis de bien me préparer pour Naomi », glisse Svitolina, lucide. She doesn't pack. She's planning. Et dans ses mots, on lit plus qu’une analyse : on lit une ambition froide. Celle de celles qui ne veulent plus simplement « être là », mais score points, tricks, and spirits.

A year 2025 in winback mode

Because yes, Svitolina no longer plays to regain sensations. This stage is already behind her. Since her post-maternity return, she's put on double bites. Physically, mentally, everything has been rethought. His tennis is more direct, less in restraint. And yet, she keeps this rare ability to lock a game as soon as he turns to the psychological baton.

The 2025 season? A puzzle that she assembles piece by piece. No explosion, but a rise in power. A quarter here, a half there, solid perfs on all surfaces. And above all, a regularity that many thought flew away. Everything with Gaël Monfils in emotional sparring, and sometimes strategic. A solid team. Warrior vibe.

More than a return: revenge

The duel facing Osaka's electric announcement. Two paths crossed. Two ways to exist on a short. Two visions of the comeback. But Svitolina is no longer there to play the extras in the great theatre of glorious narratives.

She wants His own narrative. His own epic. And each match in 2025 looks a little bit more like proof that, yes, she can still get some very heavy.

Qu’on se le dise : Elina Svitolina est revenue, et elle n’est pas là pour faire de la figuration.

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