Monfils shares the importance of Svitolina in his return to the top: "Elina helped me rediscover that flame"
In the latest episode of his talk show featuring Gilles Simon as a guest, Gaël Monfils opened up about the post-Covid years and the renewed motivation he found thanks to his partner Elina Svitolina.
Ranked 46th in the ATP standings, Monfils explains how he regained his desire to play despite the forced halt in competitions in 2020 and an injury-plagued 2022 season:
"I didn’t return to tournaments right after Covid because I wasn’t feeling it at all. I started telling Elina that if things continued like this, I wasn’t sure I wanted to play tennis again. [...]
Post-Covid, I felt my motivation was different. I was still Top 10, but I wasn’t interested. I began telling her I was thinking about quitting. I couldn’t get back to the form I had before, so there was that frustration too. She helped me a lot with that.
Afterward, I rediscovered some desire and joy. The notion of pleasure is important. But there’s a moment where I can tell you I wouldn’t still be a tennis player if I hadn’t met her.
I win Adelaide (in 2022), reach the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, play well again, and then I reinjure my foot. I don’t play for seven months, and I tell myself it’s over. On top of that, she’s pregnant. I’m injured, I welcome my daughter… Deep down, I know it’s over. And then, you (Simon and Tsonga) just retired.
But Elina finds the right words, she tells me: ‘I’m going to come back too.’ And I told her I needed to find a strong goal. Everyone made fun of me, but it was to qualify for the Paris Olympics. I was ranked 400-something and old (laughs).
My wife saved me. She helped me rediscover that little flame we all have, which sometimes burns a little less."
