Tennis players Gael Monfils, Elina Svitolina expecting their first child in October

France’s Gael Monfils and Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina are set to become parents later this year in October. The 27-year-old Svitolina, in an Instagram post on Sunday, May 15, said that the couple is expecting a girl child.

The current World No.27 shared an adorable picture on her social media handle where the 35-year-old Monfils can be seen giving her a warm hug from behind.

Svitolina captioned the picture and wrote, “With a heart full of love and happiness, we are delighted to announce that we are expecting a baby girl in October.” Monfils also posted the same picture on his official Twitter handle.

Back in April, Monfils and Svitolina got engaged, after which they tied the knots in a ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland. “Best day of my life,” wrote Svitolina after the big wedding day.

It’s a moment to rejoice for Svitolina after she took a break from tennis at the end of March to address her mental health issues. The former World No.3 has also pulled out of the upcoming edition of the French Open, starting in less than a week.

MENTALLY IT’S DRAINING

The Odesa-born tennis star said that she took the decision as she is “mentally drained’ because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. She also put forth the struggles her family and the people of Ukraine have had to go through due to the political tensions.

“For the past few days there have been shootings, explosions going on in Odesa, my hometown. Mentally, it’s draining. I cannot even imagine what people are going through back in Ukraine, what my family’s going through,” she said.

“We’re doing our best to raise funds for Ukrainian kids. I want to keep their dream alive, even though they went through horrible times. Some kids got a chance to escape. Right now we have kids who are placed in the academies in Europe. We pay for their training, for their food, their accommodation,” she added.