“Without Elina, I would have stopped tennis” – Monfils
Responding to a question from Gilles Simon, the Frenchman opened up on the influence his wife, Elina Svitolina, has had on his career
Elina Svitolina and Gael Monfils at the 2019 US Open
Image Credit: Zuma / Panoramic
As he approaches his 39th birthday, Gaël Monfils remains a professional tennis player. The oldest among the top 147, with Richard Gasquet, just two-and-a-half months older, currently 148th.
Ranked 42nd in the world this week, the Paris native, in addition to maintaining his high level, has continued to assert himself as one of the most electrifying men in the history of tennis. One of those capable of pushing a crowd to clap its hands and scream until it makes a stadium shake.
If he has always loved the spectacle and the atmospheres of collective euphoria, the Parisian has not lost his love of competition and winning either. His prestigious victories against Taylor Fritz, fourth in the ATP rankings, at the Australian Open – his best Grand Slam performance – Carlos Alcaraz in Cincinnati last year and Daniil Medvedev, then No 1 in Indian Wells in 2022, have attested to this.
First hard blow, covid, empty stadiums
Monfils could easily make us believe that he has got his hands on the Grail offering eternal youth. However, a few years ago, he had made his decision, tennis was over for him. But one person managed to give his back his spark: Elina Svitolina.
“Would you still be a professional player if you hadn’t met Elina?” asked Gilles Simon during a discussion between the two friends posted on Monfils’ YouTube channel.
“I don’t think so,” he replied. “I think I would have stopped. When I came out of Covid, she helped me a lot. I was always top 10, but I wasn’t interested in empty stadiums.
“I was really starting to say, ‘I think I’m going to stop.’ “, he detailed. “And I couldn’t get back to the shape I was (before the pandemic). She helped me a lot with that, I found a little desire, this notion of pleasure which is very important to me.”
Where I am 100% sure that I would no longer be a tennis player if I hadn’t met Elina is when I injured myself again in 2022 (the second hard blow)
Ninth in the world in March 2020, winning consecutive titles in Montpellier and Rotterdam before the first lockdown, the nicknamed “Monf” has had a slightly complicated recovery from the Covid shutdown. Eight defeats in 11 matches between his return to Rome in September and the Tokyo Olympics at the end of July 2021. Then, little by little, he regained form.
At the beginning of 2022, he lifted the trophy in Adelaide before following up with a quarter-final at the Australian Open. Then his body stopped him. With an injury to his right heel, he had to withdraw from Rome, Roland-Garros and the entire grass court season before returning to competition in Montreal in August, where he had to throw in the towel in the third round ahead of a seven-month break that Monfils thought signalled the end.
“Where I’m 100% sure that I wouldn’t be a tennis player if I hadn’t met Elina is when I get injured again in 2022,” he explained to Simon. “At that time, I said to Elina, ‘Well, it’s over.’ In addition she is pregnant, and I also have a big personal problem in my family at the same time, as you know. Internally, I tell myself that it’s over, even if it sucks to stop with an injury.
“And there, Elina finds the words,” he added. “She told me: ‘Look, I’m going to come back (from maternity) too’. In fact, she helped me a lot and I found a goal that no one laughed at me for. I said I wanted to qualify for the Olympics (Paris 2024), when I was 400th in the world. My wife saved me. She helped me find that little flame again. Thank you Elina.”
Guided by his Olympic flame, the Frenchman, 210th in the world rankings at the time of his return at the beginning of March 2023, then 394th at the start of Roland-Garros a little less than three months later, finally achieved his goal. By reaching 37th in the world and becoming the French No 3 at the end of Roland-Garros 2024, the deadline to set the qualifiers for the Games, he had achieved his target.
Now, in addition to wanting to enjoy his daughter and wife, Monfils has found another career goal: to have fun and continue to bewitch stadiums worldwide.
