Ukrainian tennis player Elina Svitolina has published a follow-up public appeal in which she detailed the motives behind her divorce from French tennis player Gael Monfils. The athlete stated that the international audience did not fully understand her previous post, interpreting the full-scale war in Ukraine as the sole factor behind the split. According to her, it was only one of many reasons, and the decision to part ways was the result of years of internal work and deep personal transformation. This was reported by Sport RBC.UA, citing the tennis player's personal Instagram account.
War as a catalyst, not the sole reason
Svitolina explicitly pointed out that her previous statement had been interpreted in a simplified way: many observers reduced the reasons for the divorce exclusively to the geopolitical context. The tennis player emphasized that after living for over four and a half years under the conditions of a full-scale war, she underwent a deep internal transformation that forced her to completely reevaluate her own values, priorities, and views on the future. The war, she said, was one of the factors that accelerated this process of realization, but not the only one nor solely decisive.
"I no longer want to live a life where I wasn't truly happy"
In the most emotional fragment of her appeal, Svitolina admitted that at a certain point she realized she no longer wanted to continue living a life in which she did not feel truly happy. "And believe me, making this decision was not easy at all," the tennis player wrote, emphasizing that the path to this realization was extremely difficult and required enormous internal effort. She chose not to disclose specific domestic or personal details, limiting herself to describing her general emotional state and the decision-making process.
Honesty as the foundation of the decision
Svitolina specifically noted that she still loves and respects Monfils as a person. Honesty — both toward him and toward herself — was the motive that prompted her to take the step toward divorce. She did not accuse her partner of any specific actions or shift the responsibility for the separation onto external circumstances. Her phrasing focuses on personal choice and the internal necessity to live in accordance with one's own values, rather than on conflict or incompatibility of characters.
Defending Monfils from unfair accusations
A separate emphasis in Svitolina's appeal was placed on the fate of Gael Monfils following his decision to prematurely end his sports career against the backdrop of family problems. According to the Ukrainian athlete, quite a few unfair accusations were directed at the Frenchman, which, in her opinion, do not reflect the real picture of events. She did not name specific episodes or individuals, but pointed out that the public reaction of part of the audience and press was disproportionate and unfair toward Monfils, who, like herself, is going through a difficult period in life.
A call for kindness and understanding
Concluding her appeal, Svitolina asked fans and press representatives to treat her and Monfils with kindness and understanding. She emphasized that both of them are going through a difficult stage in life and need a respectful attitude toward their personal space. The appeal serves as a public request for restraint in comments and the rejection of speculation regarding their divorce. At the time of publication by Sport RBC.UA, no public comment had been received from Monfils in response to Svitolina's renewed statement.
