Tennis: Gaël Monfils and Elina Svitolina have become parents

Frenchman Gaël Monfils (38th player in the world), absent from the tennis courts since mid-August, and his wife, Ukrainian Elena Svitolina (who fell to 164th place in the world), announced on Saturday that they had become the parents of a little girl called Skai. “I spent the most amazing night of my life, which ended with the most amazing gift at 6am. Elina was strong and brave. I can only thank my wife and God for this special moment. Welcome to the world my little princess Skai ”, Published Monfils, 36, on social networks on Saturday.

“What an evening”, wrote Svitolina on social media. “Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm welcome to Skaï Monfils”, she adds before thanking her husband for “having lived this unforgettable moment with her (elle) “.

Wounded in the foot during the Masters round of 16 in Montreal (Canada), Monfils has not appeared in court since 11 August. He had to give up the US Open, then the Davis Cup group stage, September 14-18. His end of the season, of which the Paris Masters 1000 is the culmination (from 29 October to 6 November), seems compromised. Monfils reached the final of the Paris tournament in 2009 and 2010.

Elena Svitolina, former world number 3, retired from the circuit after the Masters 1000 in Miami at the end of March. You have lived a tormented year due to the war in Ukraine, your country. “Mentally it’s exhausting to see all these terrible things happening to people, and not knowing what’s going to happen tomorrow or in an hour is very scary,” she told AFP on May 11.

On March 1, he indicated that he was donating his Monterrey (Mexico) tournament winnings to the Ukrainian army, a week after the outbreak of the Russian invasion.

Svitolina was born in Odessa, where part of her family resides. The city located on the shores of the Black Sea in southern Ukraine is a strategic point of the conflict. It was bombed several times by Russian forces.