"Can you tell me if my husband is playing on the Grandstand?" When Svitolina asked for news about Monfils at the 2023 US Open

Adrien Guyot

le 21/09/2025 à 10h15

1 min to read

Monfils Svitolina US Open

Elina Svitolina is known for her exceptional resilience on the court. A former world No. 3, the Ukrainian has won 18 titles on the WTA Tour in 22 finals, including four WTA 1000 titles and the WTA Finals in 2018.

Additionally, she has secured over 40 victories against top 10 players. After returning from maternity leave in 2023, she is now close to re-entering the top ten worldwide (currently ranking 13th on the WTA list).

Svitolina, 31, has been married for several years to Gaël Monfils, who is also a professional tennis player. The French player is 39 but is still competing.

During the 2023 US Open, while the Ukrainian was facing Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the second round, the Odessa native was calmly sitting during a changeover on Court Louis Armstrong when she called out to the chair umpire, asking for news about her husband who was also scheduled to play that day.

"Excuse me, Mr. Umpire. Can you tell me if my husband is playing on the Grandstand? Oh, he's playing after," Svitolina said, prompting a smile from the umpire.

At the time, the Ukrainian won against Pavlyuchenkova (5-7, 6-4, 6-4), but her husband fell hours later, on his 37th birthday, to another Russian athlete, Andrey Rublev (6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1).