Gael Monfils became a father for the first time in October 2022 when his wife Elina Svitolina gave birth to their daughter Skai. The Frenchman recently opened up about the challenges he has when on tour and away from his child.
After defeating Botic van de Zandschulp, Zhang Zhizhen, and Ugo Humbert in the first three rounds of the Qatar Open, Monfils is presently fighting against Jakub Mensik in the semifinals.
Monfils recently talked about how much he misses Skai in an interview. He talked about how long he had been apart from her, particularly at a time when she was still learning a lot. Although he is lucky to be able to communicate with her via FaceTime, he acknowledged that it cannot take the place of being with her in person.
Monfils expressed his thoughts in a recent interview and said: “It’s hard. I’m going to Dubai next week so it’ll be four weeks—we say four weeks, not to say a month—that I haven’t seen her and it’s a long time at that age when she discovers lots of things. We’re very lucky that FaceTime exists, but it doesn’t replace anything.”
He added: “Fortunately, she will be with us in the United States. The victories help a little, but it takes a long time. Tennis is cool, but I miss my daughter. We’ve already gone to Australia for a long time with her; we’re going to go back to the United States for a long time so we don’t want to disorient her too much either. It’s a challenge.”
Gael Monfils in 2024
Now ranked no.68, Gael played his last match on the 23rd of February when he surrendered to world no.116 Jakub Mensik 6-4 1-6 6-3 in the semifinal in Doha (draw).
At present, during this year the French player has a composed 5-5 win-loss record. Gael Monfils’s latest run in Doha was the best achievement of his season.
Monfils will compete next in Dubai (Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships). He will start the tournament from the main draw that will commence on the 26th of February thanks to a wild card.