On Twitter, the heartbreaking messages of Elina Svitolina, Ukrainian tennis player and wife of Gaël Monfils

The geopolitical situation has been more than tense since the Russian armed attack by Vladimir Putin against the Ukrainian people on the night of Wednesday February 23 to Thursday February 24, 2022. Messages of support and indignation are multiplying on social networks .

The Ukrainian-born tenniswoman, Elina Svitolina, could not remain indifferent to this declaration of war that her native country is undergoing.

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It was on Twitter that the wife of French tennis player Gaël Monfils spoke for the first time after the announcement of the bombings.

“I am proud to be Ukrainian.

Let us unite in this extremely difficult time for the good, peace and future of our State.

Glory to Ukraine”, she wrote in the caption of a video showing various popular places in her country.

Shortly after, when the violence escalated, she tweeted this time in English: "I can't", implying that she couldn't (and didn't want to) believe it.

“I was jealous of my brother”

It is this country, today under the blow of the bombardments, which saw the birth of the 7th highest paid sportswoman in the world.

Elina discovers tennis alongside her older brother, who initiates her.

She took her first lessons at the age of “6 or 7 years old” to be able to accompany her parents to the latter's tournaments.

“I was jealous, I wanted to get better so I could travel with them,” she admitted to

magazine in 2014.

It only takes her a few years to reach such a level that she wins first or second place in national tournaments.

The rest is linked very quickly: sponsor, move to Kharkiv, the second city of the country, intensive training until finally, in 2015, becoming the first Ukrainian player to reach the quarter-finals of the Roland-Garros tournament.

Despite difficulties: "It's hard to train in Ukraine because the federation doesn't really help us," she recalls.

On video, with whom do these tennis stars share their lives?

In December 2018, she met her future husband, tennis player Gaël Monfils in Paris and very quickly, their couple became very media-friendly.

From tennis sneakers to Dior pumps, the 27-year-old seems to be at ease on any court.

It is as a couple that they manage a common Instagram account "GEMS" (Gaël Elina Monfils Svitolina) which has more than 130,000 subscribers.

Short humorous videos, snapshots during holidays or public events, the two sportsmen expose their daily life through this account.

The good times, like the most delicate.

In February 2021, they announce a break in their relationship.

And reversal of the situation, two months later, announce their engagement and their upcoming wedding.

The big day finally took place on July 16, 2021 in Nyon, Switzerland: Elina Svitolina officially becomes Elina Monfils, in real life as on Instagram and Twitter.

Although geographically distant from her country of origin, the couple traveling to the four corners of the world for their tournaments, the tenniswoman does not feel less concerned by the need to support and act for her native country.