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Ukrainian tennis star Elina Svitolina has announced the end of her marriage with French former tennis player Ga\u00ebl Monfils, citing the emotional impact of the war in her country.<\/b><\/p>\n
The 32-year-old, who is ranked number six in the world, wrote in a heartfelt post on Instagram about the effect the conflict and “what the war has done to me inside”. <\/p>\n
“This is the most difficult thing I have ever had to share,” she wrote, saying “I need to find my way back to myself”. Svitolina said she felt she could not do that within her marriage.<\/p>\n
She said her husband Monfils, 40, “listened” and “respected what I need with a strength and grace I will never forget”. <\/p>\n
“Some battles happen deep inside you, and no amount of love from someone else can win them for you,” the four-time Grand Slam semi-finalist wrote.<\/p>\n
It was “the hardest thing I have ever had to tell the person I love”, Svitolina said.<\/p>\n
“Everyone knows how much Ukraine means to me,” she said.<\/p>\n
“What you didn’t see were the sleepless nights, the doubts, and the feeling of slowly losing myself.”<\/p>\n
The tennis power couple married in 2021 and have one child together – a four-year-old daughter called Skai.<\/p>\n
Svitolina saud her daughter “will always come first”, adding “our marriage is ending, but our family is not”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n