"Some things are simply too personal to share publicly": Elina Svitolina clarifies marriage with Gael Monfils ending for multiple reasons
WTA
Elina Svitolina confirmed that her marriage with Gael Monfils was set to come to an end in huge news to start the week off, but it led to a lot of questions as Svitolina has further addressed in another social media post.
Svitolina said that the war in Ukraine had led to a lot of sleepless nights and that she had to find herself again, but that she couldn't do so while in her current marriage. This statement saw a lot of questions levied at Svitolina as Monfils abruptly ended his career earlier this week and isn't set to play Lyon or Paris.
Two tournaments that would've been awaiting a Monfils homecoming to end it all off, but instead he took himself off the ITIA doping list and now given it takes six more months to enter the protocol again he won't play again.
Svitolina said that she had seen all of the comments and that she wanted to clarify that there were many reasons other than the war in Ukraine why she decided to leave the marriage and that Monfils didn't deserve to have all the accusations that were thrown his way either.
Svitolina and Monfils abruptly ended their marriage.
“I just want to clarity my previous post a little, because I realized that not everyone, especially my international audience, fully understood what I was trying to say.
"In that post, I shared only one of the reasons that influenced my decision and made me reflect on my life and my future. But the truth is, there's so much more to it, and it was never just about one thing.
"When you've been living through the reality of war for more than 4.5 years, experiencing so many different situations, emotions, and difficult moments, you naturally start seeing life differently. Your perspective changes, your values and priorities shift, and you begin to understand what you truly want out of life.
"At some point, I simply realized that I didn't want to keep living a life where I wasn't truly happy. And believe me, coming to this decision was anything but easy. I love and respect my husband very much. And I will always love and appreciate him for the person he is. That's exactly why it was so important for me to be honest, both with him and with myself.
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"It's not always possible to explain everything behind such personal and difficult decisions in a single post. And honestly, some things are simply too personal to share publicly. That was and is my view on announcing the end of our marriage but as some of you saw, Gael's career ended abruptly after he made the decision to stop based on our situation.
"Unfortunately he had many accusations thrown at him and he didn't deserve that, so we jointly released a statement. I just hope this helps you understand a little better what I was trying to say but please be kind and understanding, this is incredibly tough for us both right now.”
Samuel GillEditor-in-Chief
Samuel Gill is the Chief Content Officer (CCO) of TennisUpToDate.com, a role he has held since 2020. He is responsible for editorial governance across the platform, including setting content standards, overseeing accuracy and consistency, and guiding long-term editorial strategy. Since joining, he has contributed more than 10,000 articles and editorial pieces across the TennisUpToDate network, playing a central role in the daily operation and development of the site.
Based in Leicester, Samuel has a broad background in tennis media. In his current role, he works closely with editors and writers to ensure coverage meets clear journalistic standards, with particular attention to verification, consistency, and timely updates when new information becomes available.
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