By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Wednesday, April 2, 2025
Photograph credit score: Elina Svitolina Instagram
Elina Svitolina is greater than Gael Monfils’ life companion.
Svitolina is her husband’s life saver.
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In a brand new episode of his Speak Present posted to his YouTube channel, Monfils was requested by former Davis Cup teammate Gilles Simon, “Would you continue to be an expert tennis participant should you hadn’t met Elina Svitolina?”
Former world No. 6 Monfils confessed he thought of quitting the game throughout the COVID-19 period as he turned depressed enjoying in entrance of empty stadiums.
Monfils stated his spouse saved his profession by encouraging him to concentrate on the numerous positives in his life and preserve enjoying.
“I do not suppose so. I believe I might have stopped,” Monfils stated in his YouTube chat with Simon. “She helped me lots once I got here out of Covid as a result of post-Covid, I used to be nonetheless Prime 10, however I wasn’t , empty stadium, and I felt that it wasn’t going effectively.
“I used to be actually beginning to inform her that I used to be serious about quitting. And I could not even get again into form, I had this frustration.”
In October of 2022, Svitolina gave start to the couple’s daughter named Skai Monfils.
Throughout his spouse’s being pregnant, Monfils stated the prospect of being a brand new dad, struggling to remain wholesome amid continual knee and foot accidents and the disconnect he felt from the game and his followers throughout COVID all conspired to trigger him to think about calling it quits.
Nowadays, 38-year-old Monfils is crafting profession resurgence.
The Frenchman fought off Jaume Munar 7-5 5-7 7-6(1) to change into the oldest man to ever attain the spherical of 16 in Miami final week.
NO WORDS NEEDED 🫡@Gael_Monfils #MiamiOpen pic.twitter.com/xwpeOAColK
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) March 24, 2025
The magical Miami run got here a few months after Monfils launched his season in Auckland by turning into the oldest man to ever win an ATP title.
None of it will be attainable with out Svitolina who “saved me,” Monfils stated by reigniting his flame of ardour for the sport.
“My spouse saved me, she helped me discover this little flame,” Monfils stated. “[Without] actually Elina, I would not be a tennis participant if I hadn’t met her, I went as much as 14th on the planet, I gained Adelaide, I made the quarterfinals on the Australian, and I injured my foot once more, and I did not play for seven months.”
The day Monfils confided to his pregnant spouse, “it is over” she responded with the precise phrases that modified his thoughts and his life.
“After which I stated to Elina: “It is over.” As well as, she is pregnant,” Monfils stated. “And I had an enormous private downside in my household. I am injured, I welcome my daughter and I do know it is over. It sucks that I am stopping with an damage however it’s over.
“After which, Elina, she finds the phrases…I discovered a objective the place nobody gave a rattling about me, that of qualifying for the Olympic Video games, I used to be four-hundredth…
“My spouse saved me, she helped me discover this little flame. She was an enormous a part of the truth that I nonetheless play tennis so thanks Elina!”
