“Gaël’s career came to an abrupt end due to our situation”: Elina Svitolina announces the end of her marriage to Gaël Monfils

They were one of the most iconic sports couples. Tennis players Elina Svitolina and Gaël Monfils will separate after five years of marriage. The Ukrainian made the announcement on Monday, October 19, in a long post on her Instagram account.

“It’s the most difficult thing I’ve ever had to share,” wrote the one who shared the Frenchman’s life since 2018, and with whom she had a daughter, Skaï, born four years ago. “Our marriage is ending, but our family is not. We will always remain his parents, side by side, at every stage of his life,” she added, without elaborating on the reasons for the end of the union.

Elina Svitolina, on the other hand, insisted on the negative impact of the war in Ukraine, which fueled her “sleepless nights, doubts and the feeling of losing herself little by little”. “Gaël saw everything and never let go of my hand (...) Over time, I understood that I had to find myself and that I could not do it within our marriage,” explained the 32-year-old Ukrainian.

The sixth player in the WTA ranking then published a new message on Tuesday, October 20, to clarify some of her comments. “I realized that not everyone, especially the international audience, had fully understood what I had to say,” said Elina Svitolina. “In this post, I shared only one of the reasons that influenced my decision and made me think about my future. But the truth is, there is so much more than that, and it has never been just one thing.”