New details emerge on how Gael Monfils found out about Elina Svitolina divorce

New details have emerged as to how Gael Monfils was informed of his divorce by wife Elina Svitolina with the former World No.6 promptly deciding afterwards to retire from the sport and not continue on in somewhat shocking fashion after finding out about the news.

According to L'Equipe, the 40-year-old was at home in Dubai with their daughter Skai when Svitolina informed him of her intentions to divorce him over the phone instead of in person. Svitolina had been travelling at the time for a series of tournaments in late September to China.

Monfils currently wasn't on the tour at this juncture as he was gearing up for what on paper were his final events in Lyon and Paris which served as his final homecoming. But given the heartbreak of such news, Monfils decided to not play either of these events and notified the ITIA last week of his intention to retire.

Something which at the time was puzzling and gave more questions than answers. He would have to reenter the doping pool if he wanted to rejoin the tour. Many fans hoped to see a final farewell, but ironically at the moment the only tournament where a farewell is likely is in fact Stan Wawrinka's exhibition at the end of the year.

Svitolina publicly confirmed the end of their relationship on October 19 confirming various personal struggles including the war in Ukraine. "What you didn't see were the sleepless nights, the doubts, and the feeling of slowly losing myself. Gael saw all of it. He never let go of my hand. We fought through this together for a long time, with everything we had. But some battles happen deep inside you, and no amount of love from someone else can win them for you," Svitolina wrote.

Svitolina went on to make a further statement confirming that the personal decision had been a factor in his decision to quit the sport early and that the whole Ukraine narrative was part of it but not the full truth.

"In that post, I shared only one of the reasons that influenced my decision and led me to reflect on my life and my future. But the truth is that there is much more behind it, and it has never been just one thing," she said.

"At a certain point, I simply realized that I did not want to continue living a life in which I was not truly happy. And believe me, reaching this decision has not been easy."