Interesting to hear from Elina Svitolina that she and husband Gael Monfils aren’t traveling with their daughter Skai, citing how stressful and disruptive traveling the tour would be for an infant.
"Health is No. 1 priority for us": Svitolina on why her and Monfils decided not to bring daughter to DC Open
Tennis NewsSaturday, 05 August 2023 at 13:36
Elina Svitolina has opened up about the reasons for leaving her baby daughter Skaï at home while she and her husband Gaël Monfils compete at the DC Open.
Former world No. 3 Svitolina and her husband Monfils have both had successful runs so far at the combined ATP and WTA 500 event in Washington. The Ukrainian player defeated former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka in her opening round 7-6 (2), 6-4, before winning her second-round match against fifth seed Daria Kasatkina 6-2, 6-2.
Meanwhile, Monfils also won his first-round match against Bjorn Fratangelo before ousting sixth seed Alexander Bublik to progress to the third round, with both matches ending 6-3, 6-4.
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Couple left daughter at home for health reasons
Svitolina and Monfils started dating in 2019 and were married in July 2021. Just under a year later, the couple announced that they were expecting their first child, and they welcomed their daughter Skaï in October 2022.
Speaking to the press after her win against Kasatkina, Svitolina was asked whether her child was with them at the tournament, to which she replied,
"No, she's at home. We want her to stay home for the health reasons. Health is No. 1 priority for us. It's really challenging."
The 28-year-old explained that they wanted to protect their infant from the stress brought about by traveling so much while on the tour,
"We know how tiring it can be to travel that much. Tennis requires a lot of traveling, flying, and all this stress. You know, you're not sleeping in your bed, you are constantly, you know, doing something and different places. So we don't want to stress her right now at the beginning," she said.
Still spending time with her via video call
Svitolina went on to explain that the couple are still keeping in touch with their daughter through FaceTime. She also added that although the decision was tough for her and Monfils to make, they want to prioritise their young daughter's health above all else,
"For sure it's extremely tough for us. We were FaceTiming this morning with her and she was super happy. Then she was looking behind the phone, you know, where we are (smiling) and we are not there. It's really sad for us, but, you know, we have to put the priority on her health," she said.
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