Ukrainian
tennis star
Elina Svitolina expressed her affection for her husband Gael
Monfils in her Instagram stories.
The
28-year-old Ukrainian married Monfils in 2021, and they welcomed their daughter
Skai in October 2022.
Just six
months later, Svitolina made a successful return to the WTA Tour, climbing from
being outside the top 1000 to world No. 25 as of this Monday after the
conclusion of the
US Open.
The former
WTA Finals champion clinched the title at the WTA 250 Estrasburgo Open, reached
the third round of the US Open, made it to the quarterfinals at the French
Open, and reached the semifinals at Wimbledon, boasting an 11-3 record in Grand
Slam events since her return.
At Flushing
Meadows, she advanced through the first two rounds but fell to the third seed,
Jessica Pegula, in three sets. In the same tournament, her husband
Gael Monfils
only reached the second round, losing to the eighth seed, Andrey Rublev, and is
now ranked world No. 138.
Following
their early exits from the US Open, Svitolina announced that she would be
taking a break from tennis for a while, leaving uncertainty about when she will
return to competition.
The couple
traveled to France for the launch of the All in Country Club, which belongs to
former world No. 5 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Svitolina shared a photo from France,
expressing her affection for her husband.
“Love when
he gives a massage at 2am," former world No. 3 wrote
Gael
Monfils will also not be competing in the upcoming weeks as the Asian tour
begins with tournaments in Zhuhai, Chengdu, Beijing, Astana, and Shanghai.
The former
world No. 6 Frenchman was absent for nearly two months after his victory over
Sebastian Baez in the first round of the French Open. Monfils withdrew before
his match with Holger Rune due to an injury and only returned at the Atlanta
Open at the end of July.
Since then,
despite his limited time in competition, he has achieved notable victories over
players like Alexander Bublik, Christopher Eubanks, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Cameron
Norrie, and Alex De Minaur, all of whom are ranked within the top 30.