gael monfils is set for his final Roland Garros in Paris, and Elina Svitolina marked it by writing to her three-year-old daughter about what is coming. She called it a very special moment, and she tied it to a career chapter that is closing at her partner’s home Grand Slam.
Svitolina’s letter to her daughter
Svitolina said that something very special was going to happen in Paris a few days from when she wrote the letter. She told her daughter that Monfils’ final Roland Garros was "why his final Roland Garros is such a beautiful moment."
She framed Monfils as more than a name on a draw sheet. In her letter, she wrote that "Gaël Monfils was one of the greatest shot-makers anyone has ever seen." She added, "But with your dad? It’s not like this."
The letter also drew a line between his talent and the way he plays. Svitolina said he could make people feel something with a single shot or a single point, and she pointed to his creativity, speed, intelligence, coordination, and cute smile as part of what made him compelling.
From Central Park to Paris
The relationship she described began in 2017, when they met in New York on a practice court in Central Park after being introduced by a mutual friend. A year later, she said, she won the WTA Finals in Singapore and went to Paris to celebrate.
That trip became part of the story she told her daughter. Monfils messaged her after seeing her Instagram post from Paris, she said, then asked whether they should meet up while they were each out with friends. They did meet in Paris, and she said he barely talked to her the entire night.
Svitolina said he walked her to her taxi at the end of the night, and she described him as "he was sober." The detail gives the letter a personal edge, but the larger point stays on the court: his final Roland Garros is arriving in the city where the couple’s story deepened.
For readers following Monfils, the immediate next step is not a tournament bracket or a title chase. It is the final stretch of his Roland Garros run, with Svitolina’s letter placing that appearance inside a family moment as well as a tennis one.
