Elina Svitolina announces divorce from Gael Monfils after five years of marriage
Ukrainian world No 6 Elina Svitolina has announced the end of her marriage to fellow tennis star Gael Monfils, saying the emotional toll of the war in Ukraine led her to conclude she must "find my way back to myself".
Ukrainian tennis star Elina Svitolina has announced her divorce from fellow tennis player Gael Monfils in an emotional Instagram post shared on Monday on both her and Monfils’ accounts.
“Everyone knows how much Ukraine means to me,” the world No 6 wrote. “What I have rarely spoken about is what the war has done to me inside. Last year, I told you I needed to step away from the court because I wasn’t in the right emotional space. Today, I want to open up a little more. What you didn’t see were the sleepless nights, the doubts, and the feeling of slowly losing myself.”
She tied that inner struggle to the end of the marriage: “With time, I came to understand that I need to find my way back to myself and that I cannot do that within our marriage. It is the hardest truth I have ever had to face and the hardest thing I have ever had to tell the person I love. Gaël listened. He has respected what I need with a strength and grace I will never forget.”
Svitolina was explicit that there was no blame on either side, saying “there is no one to blame here. There are only two people who loved each other deeply and a story that is changing shape”. She stressed their shared commitment to their daughter Skai, born in 2022: “Skai will always come first. Our marriage is ending, but our family is not. We will always be her parents, side by side, at every step of her life.”
The pair started dating in 2018 and married in July 2021 after a brief separation earlier that year, reconciling and announcing their engagement in April. The announcement follows Svitolina’s decision to end her 2025 season early to recover after a demanding year. Monfils, meanwhile, has officially ended his professional tennis career, with his retirement recorded as effective from 5 October, ahead of the Paris Masters, which begins on 31 October.
Sources: USA Today (For The Win) — https://ftw.usatoday.com/story/sports/tennis/2026/10/19/elina-svitolina-gael-monfils-divorce-announcement-ukraine-war/92326316007/; Times of India — https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/international-sports/world-no-6-elina-svitolina-announces-divorce-from-gael-monfils-opens-up-on-emotional-struggles-amid-ukraine-war-and-more/articleshow/135046337.cms
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