They may have been on separate courts, but love was certainly in the air as Elina Svitolina asked the chair umpire the whereabouts of Gael Monfils during her own match.
Svitolina who was in a tussle against Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on Louis Armstrong Stadium at the 2023 US Open inquired from the chair umpire on how her husband Gael Monfils was getting on at Grandstand court. Monfils was scheduled to face Andrey Rublev during the night session.
The 26th seed Svitolina had dropped a tight opening set 7-5 to Pavlyuchenkova. With the match in the balance in the second set, she made the lighthearted gesture to check in on Monfils. Svitolina appeared to get her answer from the umpire judging by her response possibly looking at the on-court screen and saying, 'Okay he's playing now'.
The Ukrainian's gesture won many hearts from those watching on TV and only after the match when Svitolina was quizzed about how she was able to multitask we manage to treasure her thoughts. Seemingly in difficulty, Svitolina admitted that she needed 'a little motivation' and that certainly inspired her as she stormed back to win the match 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.
"I was just trying to get a little motivation from him. I know he's playing out there and just change my head a little bit. I was not playing my best and had to bring a different energy and just was thinking about him a little bit (laughing)."
Sadly for Monfils, he couldn't join his wife Svitolina in the third round of the tournament as he fell to eighth seed Andrey Rublev in four sets. Monfils and Svitolina have been married since 2021 and announced the birth of their daughter, Skai Monfils, last October.
Svitolina revealed before the tournament that Skai was left at home for the sake of her health, a decision she termed as unfortunate, but she keeps in touch with her on FaceTime every day.
Monfils will be in two minds now that he is out of the tournament, with Skai currently not with them, it will be interesting to see whether he'll make the trip back home or cheer on in the stands for Svitolina who will play third seed Jessica Pegula in a marquee third-round match.
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