swing amid the pandemic. For the grass swing, second-seeded Svitolina attended her first tournament at the German Open in Berlin and had a rough start after she was ousted in her first match there; her loss to Ekaterina Alexandrova, in straight sets, marked her first loss to the Russian in their four-match head-to-head record. Her woes followed her to the Eastbourne International the following week, where she was defeated in the second round by unseeded Elena Rybakina, in straight sets. The swing culminated with Wimbledon, where the defending semifinalist finished a disappointing grass swing with a straight-set loss to unseeded Magda Linette, in just the second round. Her elimination marked the biggest upset of the year's tournament at the time. At the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Svitolina embarked on her second Olympics appearance and entered into the singles tennis tournament as the fourth seed. This would be her second bid to earn her home country its very first medal in tennis in Olympics history. After defeating Camila Giorgi in the quarterfinals, she was stopped from reaching the gold medal match by Markéta Vondroušová in the semifinals when she lost in straight sets. Disappointed from losing the semifinals but unfazed, she faced off against Elena Rybakina in the bronze medal match in a rematch since their encounter in Eastbourne. This time, Svitolina exacted revenge and came back from a set down to win the second set tiebreak and the decider. Speaking on the significance of the victory after winning the bronze medal, Svitolina exclaimed, "To win such a big battle for the bronze, it means the world for me. Everyone in Ukraine is watching, we don't win so many medals, it's very special for me and Ukraine." Coming off of her win in Tokyo, Svitolina hoped to continue her streak of success in the beginning of the North American hardcourt swing during the year's US Open Series, but she quickly failed to materialize crucial wins in the first two tournaments of the swing. At the Canadian Open, third-seeded Svitolina was defeated in her first match by Johanna Konta in a three-set loss, despite having won the first set. The loss marked her first in their six-match head-to-head record. The following week, at the Cincinnati Open, fourth-seeded Svitolina was again ousted in her first match, this time against Angelique Kerber in another three-set loss. After her disappointing early exits, Svitolina traveled