Tennis power couple Elina Svitolina and Gael Monfils are heading for a divorce after five years of marriage.
Svitolina, in a post on Instagram, cited the emotional toll of her native Ukraine’s war with Russia as a need to find herself.
“Everyone knows how much Ukraine means to me. What I have rarely spoken about is what the war has done to me inside,” Svitolina wrote. “Last year, I told you I needed to step away from the court because I wasn’t in the right emotional space. Today, I want to open up a little more. What you didn’t see were the sleepless nights, the doubts, and the feeling of slowly losing myself.
“Gael saw all of it. He never let go of my hand. We fought through this together for a long time, with everything we had. But some battles happen deep inside you, and no amount of love from someone else can win them for you.”
“With time, I came to understand that I need to find my way back to myself and that I cannot do that within our marriage,” Svitolina wrote. “It is the hardest truth I have ever had to face and the hardest thing I have ever had to tell the person I love. Gael listened. He has respected what I need with a strength and grace I will never forget.
