World No.6 Elina Svitolina steps in to defend her boyfriend Gael Monfils as she hits back at a fan on social media for disparaging the Frenchman, who is leading the France team at the ongoing Davis Cup 2019 Finals in Madrid.

World No.10 Gael Monfils was stunned by Japanese World No. 73 Yoshihito Nishioka in straight sets 5-7, 2-6 in the second rubber between France and Japan at the Davis Cup 2019 Finals at the Caja Majica stadium in Madrid.

A fan took on Twitter to express his disappointment from Monfils’ defeat and wrote, “Why would they ever Gael Monfils on the national team? So many better French Players.”

However, his comments didn’t go down well  Monfils’ girlfriend Elina Svitolina as she took a dig on the fan and penned down his records at the prestigious team event. She replied, “Maybe because he is Win-loss 12-3 in Davis Cup matches. Lol, only your 8 followers might agree with you.”

Earlier, Gael Monfils revealed in an interview with L’Equipe that he speaks with Svitolina about his game plan ahead of his match. He said: “The day before a match I will be a bit tense, I will speak about my game plan with her, obviously time by the time we give advice to each other. When we warm-up, she tells me if I will be good or not”

France, bidding to win its 11th Davis Cup title, got off to a winning start, clinching a 2-1 win in its first tie against Japan in the round-robin of Group A at the Davis Cup 2019 Finals on Tuesday.

France will next face Novak Djokovic led Serbia on 21st November in its final round-robin match of Group A.

Gael Monfils was present in the France Davis Cup team in 2010 and 2014 when the team finished as a runner-up against Serbia and Switzerland respectively. At the 2010 Davis Cup, Monfils was defeated by Novak Djokovic in straight sets as Serbia clinched the title.

However, in the 2014 Davis Cup final, Monfils won the second match against beat Roger Federer in straight sets but his team went on to become the tournament runners-up, losing to Switzerland 3–1.