Elina Svitolina honors her husband, Gaël Monfils, in a letter to their daughter: “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.
But I will start here by telling you about the tennis itself — because when it comes to your dad and this topic, there is a lot to tell. 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.” (Link in bio) • 📸: Robert Prange, Fred Dufour, Zak Kaczmarek
Elina Svitolina honors her husband, Gaël Monfils, in a letter to their daughter: “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.
But I will start here by telling you about the tennis itself — because when it comes to your dad and this topic, there is a lot to tell. 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.” (Link in bio) • 📸: Robert Prange, Fred Dufour, Zak Kaczmarek
