Tennis Stars Announce Their Split

Tennis stars Elina Svitolina and Gaël Monfils announced the end of their marriage on Monday, with the Ukrainian player citing in part the personal toll that the war in her native land has taken. "Some battles happen deep inside you, and no amount of love from someone else can win them for you," she wrote on Instagram. "With time, I came to understand that I need to find my way back to myself and that I cannot do that within our marriage." On Tuesday, she acknowledged that Monfils didn't walk away from tennis quite on his own terms, reports the Athletic, confirming in a separate Instagram post that the Frenchman's abrupt retirement this month was tied to the breakdown of their marriage. She calls it a decision he made "based on our situation."

Monfils, 40, had planned to retire at the Paris Masters in November after a 22-year career, reports ESPN, but the ITIA listed him as retired on Oct. 5, weeks before the couple announced their split. Svitolina, 32, said she initially cited the strain of Russia's war in Ukraine as just one factor in the separation and stressed that much about their breakup will remain private. The pair, married since 2021, share a daughter and say they will continue to co-parent "side by side." "Skai will always come first," Svitolina wrote. "Our marriage is ending, but our family is not."