"When Monfils learned of the breakup, tennis lost its meaning for him"

The day seemed calm until Elina Svitolina set the world on fire with unexpected and shocking news: she is divorcing Gael Monfils. As the Ukrainian tennis player explained, due to the war between Russia and Ukraine and the personal situation she is experiencing, she considered that the best decision was to end what may be the most public relationship in the tennis world. However, during the day, more information continued to come out, and the newspaper L'Equipe revealed more details about what happened between them.

This French outlet revealed how the end of the marriage occurred, detailing and highlighting how Monfils processed everything and why he decided to retire immediately. It should not be forgotten that they had been together since 2018, married in 2021, and had their first and only daughter in 2022. Eight years after the beginning of their relationship, everything has ended unexpectedly, for both tennis fans and followers of both, as well as for Gael himself, who had a sad end to his career by choosing to retire immediately and move to Dubai after what happened.

As L'Equipe reports and can be inferred from Svitolina's statement, all signs point to Elina being the one who ended the relationship, which surprised the Frenchman, who received the news like a cold shower and made the drastic decision to end his career with immediate effect without waiting to say goodbye at the ATP Paris, the last Masters 1000 of the season, where he could put a golden finish to his great career in front of his home crowd. On that day, tennis lost all meaning for him, which is why on October 5, he removed himself from the Paris list and officially exited as a retired player. "When Monfils learned the news, tennis lost all meaning for him. He was no longer able to play," the outlet reports.

A premature and sad retirement for Monfils

The French tennis player did not expect this decision from Svitolina after so much time together and everything they had been through. With their daughter Skai in the mix, they had both experienced glorious times as well as mutual support to avoid falling into an endless pit, as Svitolina indicated in her statement, which is why she thought that no matter how tough the situation was that the Ukrainian tennis player was experiencing, they could get through it together.

At 40 years old, after becoming one of the most emblematic and athletic tennis players in history, Monfils was living the last season of his career. What he did not know is that that second-round match at the last US Open against Learner Tien would be the last he would play. Now he needs to heal his heart, seek support from loved ones, and focus on new goals during one of the toughest moments of his life. 

A few weeks ago, he announced that after retiring, he would dedicate himself to finance in Switzerland, although as of today, his immediate future remains uncertain. However, it is expected that despite not competing in any tournaments, he may receive some final tribute, so that he can feel the love from an audience that loves him and hurts to see a legend of his caliber like this.

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, "Cuando Monfils supo de la ruptura, el tenis para él perdió sentido"