Svitolina announces new namesake foundation

For once, Svitolina is in the news and it doesn't have to do directly with Gael Monfils; she has a new foundation.

Svitolina announced that the nonprofit organization, the Elina Svitolina Foundation, will launch on March 18. Launching in Texas, the nonprofit comes from Svitolina's desire to affix her name to a cause after volunteering her tennis-advising talents at the Bush Tennis Center in the city of Midland a year ago.

In light of the location, and a history of involvement with said tennis center, the likes of former U.S. president George W. Bush and fellow tennis pro Mardy Fish each saluted Svitolina's move to give back to youth through tennis and education initiatives.

Svitolina's foundation will include offerings ranging from after-school programs to tennis camps and scholarships to special events – perhaps, in time, even an exhibition featuring Svitolina herself and other tennis stars.

"I'm very excited to formally launch my foundation next week in Dallas, Texas," Svitolina said, as quoted on the WTA's website. "Tennis is a great sport that has created wonderful opportunities for me and I want to do my best to open doors for children to learn and excel in the sport. My goal is to help others by connecting people and resources worldwide."

As Chris Evert shared exclusively with Baseline **in September, "The beauty is that in my day, players waited until after they retired to have a foundation because then they could put more days into it. But nowadays, the players are feeling the responsibility and having a conscience about doing it while they're playing. And so if they want to give 10 days a year to their foundation, they have 10 days off and that's what they're doing."

Svitolina appears to be the latest player to ascribe to that trending logic. Look for her org's rollout in the coming days.

The 2018 WTA Finals champion finds herself perched currently at No. 5 in the rankings heading into the Miami Open at the new Hard Rock Stadium.

Follow Jon on Twitter: @jonscott9