Tennis stars Elina Svitolina of the Ukraine and Gael Monfils of France have announced their engagement according to Katie Campione of People Magazine on Thursday. Svitolina is currently ranked fifth in the world in women’s tennis, and Monfils is ranked 13th in the world in men’s tennis.
The only four players ranked higher in the world right now than Svitolina are Ashleigh Barty of Australia, Naomi Osaka of Japan, Simona Halep of Romania, and Sofia Kenin of the United States. Svitolina is the highest-ranked active player in the world never to have won a grand slam final. In fact, she has never reached a grand slam final. Svitolina’s best grand slam results were a semifinal berth at the 2019 United States Open as well as 2019 Wimbledon.
Like Svitolina, Monfils has reached two grand slam semi-finals, but has not yet reached a grand slam final in his career. He reached the semifinals of the 2008 French Open and 2016 United States Open. Monfils is the top-ranked Frenchman in the world, and is returning to action after a neck injury in the fall.
Monfils has won 10 ATP titles since his first title in 2005. Last season, he won twice on the ATP Tour, with both victories coming over Canadians. He beat Vasek Pospisil of Vernon, British Columbia 7-5, 6-3 at the Open Sud de France in Montpellier, France, and then Felix Auger-Aliassime of Montreal, Quebec 6-2, 6-4 in the Rotterdam Final. Auger-Aliassime made tennis headlines this week when it was announced that Toni Nadal (Rafael Nadal’s uncle), would be part of his coaching team.
Svitolina meanwhile has 15 WTA titles to her name. Like Monfils, Svitolina won twice in 2020, with one of her wins coming in France. Svitolina beat Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 to win the Monterrey Open in Mexico, and then beat Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 to win the Internationaux de Strasbourg in France.
Svitolina and Monfils first started dating in 2019. Svitolina is 26 years of age, while Monfils is 34 years old.
