Harry Styles has personally invited tennis star Elina Svitolina to one of his shows after she revealed that she had to miss his concert to compete at Wimbledon.
The Ukrainian athlete took to Instagram on 8 July to share the reason she would be skipping Styles’ show in Vienna that night. “Missing @harrystyles concert but well.. it’s okay I guess @wimbledon,” she wrote in the caption of her post, which featured photos of her on the court.
This decision to miss Styles’ concert came after Svitolina advanced to the fourth round of Wimbledon, where she played against Victoria Azarenka, the former world number one player in singles tennis.
Over the weekend, Wimbledon’s official Instagram page also shared a message from Svitolina, in which she asked if anyone would want her concert tickets. “Hey guys!! I was supposed to go see my fav @harrystyles concert in Vienna tomorrow….But Wimbledon changed my plans,” she wrote. “Someone want to go? I have two tickets.”
On Sunday, the “As It Was” singer took to the comments of the post to personally invite Svitolina to one of his remaining shows. He also took the opportunity to congratulate her on her victory, as she defeated Azarenka in the match and is now advancing to the quarter-finals.
“Congratulations! We have four shows to go, you’re welcome at any of them. Good luck with the rest of the tournament. H,” he wrote.
Hours later, Svitolina posted a screenshot of Styles’ comment to her Instagram Story, along with a heart emoji and a face hold back tears emoji.
Svitolina was invited to the last four shows of the tour, which includes two concerts in Spain, one in Portugal, and a final one in Italy. According to the Evening Standard, Svitolina’s initial tickets to the Vienna concert went to a fellow Ukrainian, Anna Tilniak, and her son, David. Tilniak later shared a video from the show to her Instagram, with a special shout out to the tennis star.
“I’m happy when he is happy,” she wrote in the caption of the post, which showed footage of her child dancing at the concert. “@harrystyles in Vienna. One more time: thanks for these unexpected tickets to @elisvitolina @annapopovchenko.”
Following her win against Azarenka, Svitolina expressed her gratitude for her family and fans. “I think after giving birth to our daughter this is the second happiest moment in my life,” she said during an on-court interview. “When I was down in the second set I heard you guys cheering for me and I almost wanted to cry.”
She added: “It was really tough for me because I wasn’t playing my best, I was really struggling but I really wanted to win today. You guys gave me so much strength today. You were really unbelievable.”
During the post-game interview, Svitolina was also asked about missing Styles’ show, with the tennis star revealing her hope that the singer was “watching”.
In response to the interviewer, who asked: “You were supposed to go to a Harry Styles concert yesterday. You gave the tickets away. This is a bit better than that isn’t it?” the Ukrainian athlete said: “Well, I hope that Harry is watching. I’m just a big fan of his.”
In the next round, Svitolina will play against Iga Swiatek, who is currently ranked world number one in singles tennis.
