In a joint Instagram<\/a> post, Svitolina cited the war in Ukraine, her home country, as taking a major toll on her emotionally, saying she needs to \u201cfind my way back to myself and that I cannot do that within our marriage.\u201d<\/p>\n Svitolina and Monfils married in 2021 and share one daughter together.<\/p>\n The Russia-Ukraine war, which broke out in February 2022, has so far cost an estimated 131,000 Ukrainian military deaths in action and 17,257 verified civilian deaths. CSIS data estimates close to 500,000 Russian soldiers have been killed since the invasion. <\/p>\n Ukrainian tennis<\/a> player Elina Svitolina, 32, and French tennis player Ga\u00ebl Monfils, 40, one of the tennis world\u2019s most beloved couples, have announced they are ending their marriage of five years in a joint Instagram<\/a> post. World No.6 Elina Svitolina, who recently qualified for the WTA Finals in Indian Wells, attributed her split with former top-10 player Gael Monfils to the ongoing emotional toll of the war in Ukraine, which broke out when Russia launched its full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022. While Svitolina has continued to deliver exceptional performances on the global stage, she shared that her resilience on court has been playing out alongside a deep ongoing national trauma. <\/p>\n \u201cEveryone knows how much Ukraine means to me. What I have rarely spoken about is what the war has done to me inside,\u201d Svitolina, who was born in Odesa, Ukraine, wrote. \u201cWith time, I came to understand that I need to find my way back to myself and that I cannot do that within our marriage. It is the hardest truth I have ever had to face and the hardest thing I have ever had to tell the person I love.\u201d While Monfils has not given his own comment, he shared Svitolina\u2019s post. <\/p>\n Svitolina and Ga\u00ebl began dating in 2019 and married in July 2021. The couple shares a four-year-old daughter named Skai.<\/p>\n Why Did Elina Svitolina And Ga\u00ebl Monfils Separate?<\/p>\n In an unflinchingly honest statement, Svitolina detailed the unseen emotional toll the war has taken on her personal life. She explained that \u201csleepless nights\u201d and \u201cdoubts\u201d left her \u201cslowly losing\u201d herself, leading her to realise she needed to heal outside of her marriage. \u201cSome battles happen deep inside you,\u2019 she wrote, \u201cand no amount of love from someone else can win them for you.\u201d <\/p>\n The statement emphasises that the decision to separate is amicable, with no single party responsible or at fault. \u201cGa\u00ebl has loved me through my greatest joys and my darkest moments, and I have loved him with all my heart,\u201d Svitolina wrote. \u201cThere are only two people who loved each other deeply and a story that is changing shape.\u201d News of the couple\u2019s separation has shocked the tennis world, especially given that the pair took to the court together for the first time two months ago, playing doubles at the US Open. <\/p>\n Putting the couple\u2019s public status aside, the announcement is a sombre reminder of the ongoing Ukraine war and its widespread impacts on citizens, whether they\u2019re residing in the country or not. According to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, there have been around 131,000 Ukrainian military deaths in action and 17,257 verified civilian deaths, with the United Nations<\/a> reporting that civilian deaths reached record levels this September as Russia intensified cruise missile and drone attacks. Despite this, media coverage of the conflict has waned. A study released earlier this year in the research journal Plos One<\/a> revealed that international coverage peaked in March 2022 with 1.1 million articles recorded, which quickly declined to approximately 400,000 monthly articles for the year\u2019s remainder and the subsequent two years. <\/p>\n The emotional toll of war \u2014 worrying for the safety of family members and seeing the country you love be destroyed \u2014 doesn\u2019t cease if you\u2019re not in the country, and Svitolina and Monfils\u2019 separation is a prime example of the way it can indirectly (but fundamentally) change the course of your life, even if the news has largely stopped reporting on it.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\tFashion Contributor \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNoni Reginato is a freelance writer, journalist and word enthusiast. She took ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ a little too literally in her youth and pursued a career in magazines, working across print and digital for\u00a0Vogue\u00a0Australia,\u00a0GQ,\u00a0Vogue Living,\u00a0InStyle\u00a0Australia,\u00a0Cosmopolitan\u00a0Australia and\u00a0T: The New York Times Style Magazine\u00a0Australia. Her writing traverses fashion, culture, wellness and lifestyle, but really, she’s fascinated by anything zeitgeisty. She contributes to ELLE and marie claire Australia and writes a weekly Substack titled Refer To Instructions<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sign up for our newsletter<\/p>\n Sign up for the latest news from ELLE including offers and discounts we choose to share with you<\/p>\n By joining, you agree to our Privacy Policy<\/a> & Terms of Use<\/a><\/p>\n About your privacy Are Media Pty Limited collects your personal information through this site to process registrations, send out newsletters, communicate offers, discounts, competitions, or surveys, and to provide you with targeted advertising based on your online activities. Our Privacy Policy<\/a> contains information on how you can access or correct your personal information, which entities we may disclose your personal information to (including overseas recipients), how to opt out of targeted advertising, and how to lodge a complaint.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t![\"Gael](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/2-6ad6c9484e5e2.png\")
Image: Getty<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tNoni Reginato\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n