Elina Svitolina hopes she and Gael Monfils can welcome more kids after they are done with professional tennis. Svitolina, 29, and 37-year-old Monfils welcomed their first child in 2022 October, when a baby girl named Skai was born. After being sidelined for 13 months and giving birth, Svitolina made a successful return to tennis in April. “It takes a lot of health, and life is not limited to tennis… I hope that then [after the competitive years] Gael and I will have a couple more children,” Svitolina told Vogue.
Svitolina on her daughter Skai
“Well, she (Skai) is more looking like me and she is really, really, quiet. Not the same as Gael. The only thing she has is his small ears – like Gael. The rest is like me,” Svitolina revealed to Tennis Channel in April. This season, Svitolina and Monfils did their best to balance between pro career and parenthood. During the grass season, Monfils stayed home and took care of Skai. While Monfils and Skai were at home, Svitolina was making a huge run at Wimbledon, which ended with a semifinal loss to Marketa Vondrousova. After Wimbledon, Monfils said one of his biggest joys was seeing his wife happy. “We had each other. It’s great to see her doing so good. So, I think both of us, we try to pull the best out of us. The downside is to see her suffering in the practice, in the fitness room; how much discipline and work she puts in, you know, to come back. It’s just like, for me, another joy to see my wife compete and be happy on the court – that’s the first for a husband — to see your wife happy. She’s happy outside of the court, but enjoying herself on the court, putting the work, the discipline and then have the results, is amazing,” Monfils said on Tennis Channel in August.