Gael Monfils and Elina Svitolina had a rather intense week. The Ukrainian is 1 step from defending her title at the WTA Finals in Shenzhen, where she can also win a record-breaking $ 4.7 million if she beats Barty. In Paris, Gael was one step away from qualifying to the ATP Finals in London, but he didn’t make it as he fell to Shapovalov in the quarters to Denis Shapovalov.
Monfils and Svitolina in London
Gael confirmed that he will head to London anyway so as to spend some time with his girlfriend. The Frenchman admitted that he was mentally exhausted to reveal:
“I haven’t been home since Zhuhai, so I’m quite tired. Everybody exerts pressure on me. Even if Jo made a wonderful match against Berrettini, it was Berrettini losing his match. Everyone is saying, Gaël, Gaël, Bautista and Berrettini had the keys in their hands.
The rest relied upon me as an indirect consequence. This is what I tried to tell you. I had one infinite chance to get there. But from the beginning of the tournament, I’ve had a lot of successes already. The fact that Roger pulled out, the main draw opened up.
And I managed to reach the semifinals in Vienna. It was a miracle.”
Then Gael added:
“Yes, I’m going to London. I have to relax. I have to make sure that I’m ready also for personal reasons. Elina likes to spend time in London, so I’m going to go there.”
Gael Monfils’s ranking and performance in 2019
Ranked no.13, Gael played his last match on the 1st of November when he surrendered to Denis Shapovalov 6-2 6-2 in the quarter in Paris.
This year Monfils has a 37-18 win-loss record. Gael has won 1 title in Rotterdam.
Svitolina in Shenzhen, ranking, and results in 2019
Ranked no.8, the Ukrainian has a 39-21 win-loss record in 2019. Elina is now having a run in Shenzhen where she defeated Karolina Pliskova 7-612 6-4, Simona Halep 7-5 6-3, Sofia Kenin 7-5 7-610 and Belinda Bencic 5-7 6-3 4-1 ret..
Svitolina will face Barty in the final. The head to head is 5-0 for Svitolina.
The last time that they competed against each other, Svitolina won 7-68 5-7 6-4 in the 4th round in Indian Wells on the 12th March 2019.
Elina won 13 titles in her career: 7 on hard courts, 4 on clay courts and 2 on indoor courts. (See the list of her titles)
