Elina Svitolina recently expressed her love for her and Gael Monfils' daughter Skai.
Svitolina has won a total of 17 singles titles on the tour since turning pro in 2010. She also reached as high as the World No. 3 spot in the WTA rankings in September 2017. Currently, she is No. 25.
On the other hand, Monfils took to tennis six years before his wife in 2004. He has won a total of 12 ATP titles on the singles circuit. Most recently, he won the Stockholm Open in October 2023.
Svitolina and Monfils began dating in the year 2019. The duo dated for a couple of years before getting engaged in April 2021. Soon after, they married each other on July 16.
The couple gave birth to their first child on October 15, 2022 and named her Skai. They recently celebrated her first birthday.
Svitolina recently shared a picture on social media in which Skai can be seen strolling around a lush green field under the sunlight with a leaf in her left hand.
"My love," Svitolina wrote.
Elina Svitolina: "It's really important to have a team for Skai who takes care of her, so then we can focus on tennis"
After a 13-month-long maternity break, Elina Svitolina played her first Grand Slam tournament at the French Open in May 2023. During a press conference at Roland Garros, she revealed that it was the first time she and her husband were competing at the same event in the presence of their daughter Skai.
“Really special. Actually, yeah, first tournament for us where we are both playing at the same tournament and Skai is here with us in Paris as well. It's really, really special,” Svitolina said.
The Ukrainian added that they needed a group of people around Skai in order to stay focused on the court.
“It's really important to have a team for Skai, who takes care of her, so then we can focus on tennis. And especially at such a big event with lots of pressure and lots of things going on, it's important that your mind is calm about your child and then you have 100% head into the tennis," Elina Svitloina said.
Svitolina went as far as the quarterfinals at the Paris Major. She faced a straight-set defeat at the hands of World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka.
For Monfils, the tournament ended prematurely. He bettered Argentina's Sebastian Baez in the opener but pulled out of his match against Holger Rune.