Gael Monfils is all praise for his wife Elina Svitolina for her impressive run at SW19 where she reached semis while also opening about his wrist injury and return to the tour.
The electric French tied knot with Svitolina in July 2021 and the coupled welcome their first child, Skai Monfils in October last year.
Svitolina made her return to the sport in Charleston, six months after giving birth where she narrowly lost a tough fought match to Yulia Putintseva. After a couple of early defeats, the former WTA #3 started to find here feet again and qualified for the semis of Saint Malo Challenger which was followed by her 17th WTA title in Strasbourg.
The Ukrainian has since regained her top form to go deep in Wimbledon and Roland Garros where she reached semis and quarters respectively.
The progress was quick as the tennista mom with the three months of her return climbed back from outsdie the top 1300 to back inside the top 30 seeding and is currently sitting at #27. The top ranked Ukrainian lost the Wimbledon semifinal tie to eventual Czech Champion Marketa Vondrousova and Monfils has revealed his thoughts on his partners dream run.
“Just proud of my wife, to be honest,” said Monfils “How much work she has put in to be at that level. How much discipline she had. I was amazed by her strength, mentally, in some matches, to turn them around and then come back for her next match – I was proud and inspired. This is why I feel like a champion right now.”
While Svitolina was busy at the All England Club, Monfils who is recovering from a wrist injury, was at home looking after his daughter and spoke about that ‘privilege’ while being not active on tour.
“You are at home, but it’s a privilege to spend quality time as well, at home with your child. It can never be too much. It’s going to be a few weeks without her and it’s gonna be tough, but I feel like we will have more time in a few weeks,” explained Monfils.
“It has been an amazing month for me, watching my wife do fantastic, and I have had quality time with my daughter as well, so you know I’m just full of energy.”
The Frenchman has not seen the matchcourt since his five set win over Sebastian Baez at Paris major as she pulled out of the Roland Garros in his R2 match after picking a wrist injury. However, the 36-year old is preparing for a return this week, “I feel much better. That’s why I’m here actually. I feel like the wrist issue is almost behind me. You know how it is when you come back, you still have to be very careful, so I need to tape my wrist to be sure, and do my rehab.”
Monfils will participated in 250-level event in Atlanta in the US hard court swing as he prepares for New York major. He will play against Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis in the R1 match at the tourney.