Svitolina Writes Eloquently on Her Husband the Magician Gael Monfils

Roland-Garros starts Sunday. But the qualifying week, which also featured several special appearances by Gael Monfils ahead of his final French Open, was an absolute dream. 

On Thursday, fans filed into Court Phillipe-Chatrier for Gael & Friends, an exhibition centered around the man, the myth, the legend himself. 

That was really special, but what happened on the internet on Thursday was even more special: Elina Svitolina published a letter to her daughter Skai in the Player’s Tribune that doubles as a tribute to Lamonf. 

The Ukranian opened her heart and poured out some beautiful prose that highlighted the beauty of Monfils – the athlete and the personality. She pointed out that with Gael, you got more than tennis. You got a show. You got heart, and you got someone who never failed to stay true to what he was. 

Here’s how Svitolina started the piece: 

“A few days from now, something very special is going to happen, right here in Paris. You’re only three years old, so a little too young still to know about it 🙂 But I am writing you this letter, with the hope that one day you will read your mom’s thoughts and then you will understand. You will understand why your dad means so much to so many people around the world. You will understand why his career has been such an amazing one….… and why his final Roland Garros is such a beautiful moment. 

“You will understand why sometimes, tennis, it’s about more than just tennis.”

Svitolina went on to eloquently explain the intoxicating effect that Monfils’ handiwork on a tennis court could produce. Part athlete, part acrobat, part speed demon, he always had the power to bring an audience to life. He elevated tennis in a way that it never had been elevated before. He made it into dance, into theater, into a celebration. 

We’ll let Svitolina take us out: 

“The first thing you should know, I think, it’s that Gaël Monfils was one of the greatest shot-makers anyone has ever seen. There are others who were more consistent, or who made fewer mistakes.…. but it’s interesting. Because when you say why these players are great, maybe you are needing to give a long explanation. Or you are needing to show many statistics, or a whole match, or a whole tournament. But with your dad? It’s not like this. With your dad, it’s so simple. You can show someone a single point of his, even a single shot … and now they will “get it.” Because your dad, in just one shot, one moment, he could achieve what I think few athletes ever achieve. He could make people feel something. Almost like at a concert and there’s a perfect song, or at the movies and there’s a perfect line, and you have this feeling like, Oh my god. WOW. It takes your breath away. I wouldn’t say that sports are usually like this.…. they are competition, you know? But if you watch Gaël play, there are moments where you connect to something deeper than sports. Where you feel like, OK, tennis…… this is not just one player trying to grind another player to dust. When it’s in the very best moments??? It’s also magic.

“And your dad was the best magician.” 

Monfils will open his last Roland-Garros against fellow Frenchman Hugo Gaston. If he wins he’ll break the record for most French Open men’s singles wins by a French player. You won’t want to miss this one.