The Woman of All Challenges: Elina Svitolina-Monfils’ Journey Through Motherhood, Tennis, and Representing Ukraine

In a career, as in a life, there are places and moments that stand out more than others. For Elina Svitolina, Ukrainian champion united with her colleague and now French husband Gaël Monfils, France holds a special place. In her existence as a woman and mother. In that of the tennis player too. It was there, in Strasbourg, that just a year ago, she lifted the first trophy of the rest of her life, that of her post-pregnancy. Immediately, at Roland-Garros, she experienced strong emotions by reaching the quarter-finals.

Coming back to Paris is therefore not trivial for her. This year even less than any other. There will be a double dose of Roland, from the spring Grand Slam to the summer Olympic meeting. With, inevitably, pressure, of a different nature, and the expectation of strong emotions. As she approaches her thirties, it is an understatement to say that Elina Svitolina faces a number of desires and challenges. This family which grew with the birth of the daughter, little Skai, that she had with Monfils, her life as a mother to manage at the same time as her ambitions rediscovered on the courts, without forgetting the distressing shadow of the war his country has been waging since its invasion by Russian troops in February 2022.

I have to accept that my body is no longer the same

On a daily basis, her status as a mother does not constitute the least exciting challenge. It requires adjustments, of course. Raemon Sluiter, the coach who has been with him since his return to competition in April 2023, never loses sight of him. “Yes, it’s a challenge, the Dutchman tells us. Tennis-wise, I favor quality, if she’s a little tired, or if she has a lot of things to manage. I don’t care if she doesn’t train certain times. days I told her, from the start: ‘every time we go on the court, we look for quality. If, for whatever reason, physically or mentally, it’s not there, it’s not there. I don’t have the energy, we’re not training. Rest and we’ll leave tomorrow.”

“I have to accept that my body is no longer the same and I adjust my way of working accordingly,” concedes Svitolina. She is not the first champion to return to the highest level after giving birth to a child, but this component is never neutral. “The body is no longer quite what it was before pregnancy,” continues Sluiter. “Physically, sometimes, it’s a challenge.” With more than a year of hindsight now, when his player has settled back into the Top 20 and played a quarter and a half in Grand Slams, he says he is amazed:

“I wouldn’t have committed to her if I didn’t believe she was capable of coming back. But I didn’t think it would go so quickly. There’s a lot of work to get back to your best level, physically, mentally, in terms of rhythm. The way she came back, it’s impressive. Even though I see her working, she continues to surprise me. She always keeps moving forward, she’s tough.

Elina Svitolina at Wimbledon in 2023.

Credit: Getty Images

Not back to have fun

Raemon Sluiter defines his player as Gaël Monfils describes his partner: a warrior. But she never seeks to overplay in this register. On the contrary. She appreciates the constraints of her job, of their job (stress, travel, absences), but considers herself rather privileged in the way she manages her professional life and her family life at the same time.

“As tennis players, we have to be flexible, but we have a lot of people to help us, who we trust,” she explains. “We have to prioritize Skai’s well-being, so We can’t take her with us all the time to tournaments. We take her on long trips, to Australia or the United States for example. But otherwise she’s at home, with her grandmothers. her nanny. So that makes things a lot easier for us.”

Despite everything, has she been surprised since her return? Yes and no. “I didn’t come back just to have fun, insists the former world number 3, but because I had big ambitions for myself. I want to get back into the Top 10 (she is currently 17th). has work. I have to be patient. I have to go through difficult times.” Frustrations, too, like this defeat in Rome against Aryna Sabalenka after having obtained several match points. But as always, she is ready to go back “into battle”.

Do what she can for her country

Quotation marks are more necessary than ever to emphasize the metaphorical side of these struggles. What she built in her personal life with Gaël Monfils largely coincided, in terms of time, with what her country has been experiencing for more than two years now. “There are very beautiful moments but also much more difficult days because I know perfectly well what is happening in my country and I follow it closely,” confides the native of Odessa, who still has part of her family and many friends in Ukraine. All are directly confronted with war.

Elina Svitolina at Roland-Garros in 2023. She reached the quarter-finals.

Credit: Getty Images

She experiences this national tragedy in an ambiguous way. Touched to the heart, but distanced from the daily drama. “Sometimes,” she continues, “when you live a normal life outside of Ukraine, you live in a separate world. Mentally, it’s sometimes a little disturbing. I try to use that as a source of motivation because even if I am not in Ukraine at the moment, I can make myself useful for my people, for the Ukrainians, for the children of my country too.”

In her own way, she wants to “represent Ukraine”. She speaks of “a mission”. There is the foundation that bears her name, which she founded in 2019 and which aims to help young Ukrainians train in tennis. She also became, alongside Andriy Shevchenko, the former Ukrainian football star, the ambassador of the U24 association, created by President Volodymyr Zelensky. “Tennis is a great sport and I try to use it as a platform to be able to raise funds and attract attention,” she summarizes.

Elina Svitolina speaks of an “extremely difficult” situation. The bombs falling, the permanent uncertainty and the fear for his loved ones. She no longer plays tennis just for herself. But she doesn’t take herself for what she doesn’t want and can’t be. The heroism lies elsewhere, as she recalls: “Mentally, for us, athletes, it is not always easy because we carry part of Ukraine on our shoulders. We have the impression of having an injury , the bleeding heart. But it is also a motivation. We must do it for those who are fighting on the front line. They are the real heroes.

It’s a reward to work with her

But when she fights on the court, she no longer does it just for herself, nor even for her man or her daughter, but for what she can bring to her country. Even modestly, in his place. So much so that today, she admits, if she was given the choice between winning a first Grand Slam at Roland-Garros or Wimbledon or being crowned Olympic champion this summer in Paris, she would not hesitate for a moment. second and would choose gold: “Because it would be for my country and, in these difficult times, it would be even more important.” In Tokyo, in 2021, Svitolina had already brought home a medal, in bronze. But the meaning would be different today.

Lots of hats to wear, lots of challenges to take on. For all these reasons, from the returning mother who has to manage family life and career together to the representative of this country that another state is trying to wipe off the map, at least in its current form, Elina Svitolina- Monfils (she bears the French name in her marital status and displays it on her social networks but wishes to keep her maiden name on the circuit) is no longer quite a player like the others.

Being with her is something else. Raemon Sluiter feels this way. “It’s heavy sometimes, but it’s also a reward to work with her,” he judges. “Often in tennis you have a very narrow mind and you have to be like that in a certain way because in this job it’s very important to be like that. All that matters is the next match, your results, your ranking, this and that.”

The coach and the husband: Raemon Sluiter and Gaël Monfils.

Credit: Getty Images

Monfils: “Hats off”

Elina Svitolina no longer has this luxury. Personally, his coach saw it as an opportunity. “Broadening your vision as a coach and seeing that there is much more than just hitting a tennis ball in or out is also rewarding,” concedes the Dutch technician. “I like that feeling. The results, when they’re good, it’s good for your ego, but helping her in another way, helping her be able to help others, seeing what she accomplishes with her foundation, with United24, is worth it to me. , and that’s one of the reasons why I got involved with her.”

Raemon Sluiter not only has respect for the player he coaches but also for the person. From a completely different position, Gaël Monfils feels a bit the same thing. Seeing Elina return so quickly to the top level impressed him, because he knows, in the same profession, the difficulty of the mission. But now there is something else. He discovers it as life events happen, good or bad. Not without a certain admiration for the one who accompanies him.

“I’m learning a lot of things from my wife now,” slips Monfils. “There are lots of stages. At the beginning, she’s your girlfriend, and behind, she’s your fiancée, then she’s your wife. is also an incredible athlete. She is also someone very engaged with everything that happens in her country. Afterwards, she becomes a mother. And she is also the athlete who comes back after giving birth. stop learning from my wife every moment, every period, and every time, I really say hats off to this woman, I’m lucky she’s my wife. The woman of all challenges. Those of the player, the mother, and the Ukrainian. Ready to take them all on. For her, but not only.

2024-05-23 22:39:00
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