Such a cool story
Go for the AO MD

 

Unreal tournament for Oleksandra, dropping just 18 games the entire week! She's been steadily climbing over the past 12 months with three W35 titles, then a W50, a W75 and now this.

Her game is quite defensive and there will likely be some serious challenges to overcome off a clay court, but she's definitely playing well enough to be a Top 100 staple with smart scheduling.

 

She sliced through that draw like a hot knife through butter 🤯

 

What a month for her at these 125 tournaments. SF, QF, and now a W.

 

I am glad her moment finally seems to be coming after all the struggles and her persistence to succeed no matter what. Is she representing Croatia or Ukraine now? Or ?

 

She represents Ukraine 🇺🇦

 

While I’m sure some of the stories about her struggles have been exaggerated, it is clear that she followed a very unconventional path and had to earn everything on her own. I remember how she and her brother were working in the fields picking grapes while also playing French exhibition tournaments during the pandemic. She's not my favorite character but for that, I have nothing but respect.

There was a period when the only people who believed in her tennis dream were herself and her family, and understandably so. She was an extremely mediocre junior, with a technique that noone could have imagined would hold up on the pro tour. If someone had told me back then that she would win a WTA title and be knocking on the door of the top 100 before turning 25, I would have called them delusional. But that's the beauty of tennis, I guess.

 

As much as I can't warm up to her, she's playing very smart tennis and full credit to her. TOP100 shouldn't be a problem, I expect her to go to South America where she can pick up some easier points.

 

In fact, the stories about the difficulties of her career path are rather understated — simply because until recently, few people cared. Besides grape picking in France, she also worked as a food delivery driver and a strawberry packer. Just last year, after winning a tournament in Koge, Denmark, she had to sleep at the airport because she didn’t have enough money even for the cheapest hostel. By the way, she spent two or three years playing the UTR Tour precisely because it paid better for low-ranked players.

She has never received a WC for any tournament (including WTA, ITF, and ITF Junior).

She has never had a sponsor or an agent.

She has never played a junior Grand Slam.

The last time she played for the Croatian U12 national team was years ago — since then, she has never been invited to any national team.

And most importantly — her country is in a terrible war, her father is in the army, and her grandmother lives under the bombs. She herself cannot come and live where she would like to, in the place that is her homeland.

As for Oleksandra as a junior — I have to disagree with you. She has ALWAYS been exceptionally gifted. The only point is that her true strength lies in her mind. Intelligent players usually blossom later — but more often than not, they never get the chance at all, because people start to consider them “too old.”

 

Timea B had a similar story...this girl will be top 50 soon

 

I’m amazed at how well she’s doing when she was a sort of running joke on here.

This is the legendary Sasha Refugee that Trollpova used to go on about?
That seems like decades ago.

 

I’m amazed at how well she’s doing when she was a sort of running joke on here.

This is the legendary Sasha Refugee that Trollpova used to go on about?
That seems like decades ago.

And why should she play bad?

By the way, do you really think that being a refugee (and in her case, actually being a refugee twice in her life) is something very funny?

 

I remember when Oliynykova's parents were running a Twitter account back in... 2016? I think. They were telling about their struggles settling in Croatia and about the lack of support Oleksandra received from pretty much any federation. While one could have empathy for them wanting to see their daughter having an opportunity in juniors tennis, she just wasn't a notable junior player and her technique was questionable at best. Her account was nonetheless noticed by Errani, who helped her getting some tennis gear from Nike, and a few journalists (none of them in major outlets) who covered her story.

As years passed, I was pretty much sure she would never happen, but she was still trying to make her finances work. Years ago she even promoted a service where for some very few bucks she would wear a shirt with a logo from your brand as many times as you paid (!) But she worked hard for a lot of time and while I still don't think a top 100 ranking is ahead for her, she has an extremely realistic shot at reaching a seeded spot at a Slam and qualifying at the French (she doesn't really play at a top 200 level outside of clay, so I don't see her succeeding elsewhere). She clearly has amazing work ethic and more privileged players could learn from her.

 

In 2018, at the W15 tournament in Nanjing, she played two very close sets against Qinwen Zheng — in China, on hard courts.

She was also leading 5–1 against Raducanu but couldn’t hold the set.

This was already in the professional tour, which Oleksandra has been playing since the age of 16 in order to pay for her existence in tennis.

She wasn’t a noticeable junior only because she stopped playing the junior tour very early.

 

Tolentino Final Highlights

 

And yes, her technique is still questionable — for those who try to evaluate her game.

With this technique, she has already won 5 titles this year, and something tells me this is not the end.

 

Her parents left Ukraine in 2011, fleeing political persecution — with refugee status.

Ten years later, she returned to Ukraine, only to become a refugee again six months later because of the start of the full-scale war.

I don’t find that funny.

 

fleeing political persecution

what's his father being persecuted for?

 

 

Now ranked just one spot below Azarenka and two spots above Linda F.

 

I don’t know much about her game or character (I see polarizing opinions here) but I live for this kind of life stories. Imagine if one day she wins a big title and becomes a top 20 player. You never know. Her story will be everywhere and young players and underprivileged kids will look up to her example. That’s what it’s all about. She’s worked so hard and never gave up against all the odds. Nothing but admiration for her from my side at least. 98/100 people would’ve given up a long time ago and settle with another career but she digs deeper than anyone else. RESPECT.

 

Thank you for posting my thoughts