When Gael Monfils‘ name was spotted on the ITIA’s list of retired players, there was a bit of surprise going around. Even though 2026 was his last season on Tour, it was largely expected that the Frenchman would call it a day in front of his home crowd at the Paris Masters. Since then, a lot of water has gone under the bridge, with news that Monfils and his wife, Elina Svitolina, are going their separate ways after five years of marriage, making headlines. The news has highlighted the difficulties of maintaining relationships as professional tennis players, a topic discussed by former pros Andrea Petkovic and Brad Gilbert.

“Elina Svitolina and Gael Monfils split up,” said Petkovic on the Big T podcast. “Gael Monfils has pulled out of the Paris tournament, so he will not have that last goodbye and farewell with the Parisian people who always loved him and adored him, because of this really difficult private thing that he’s going through right now. That’s one thing. And the other thing, I just wanted to talk a little bit about how difficult it is to have a relationship as a tennis player. Sometimes you would meet somebody, you would start dating, and then you’re gone for like eight weeks. And when you’re 22, 23, 24, a whole life happens in eight weeks. You know, you come back, and you don’t recognize each other anymore.”

Petkovic is not wrong in pointing out the scheduling that professional tennis players have to go through, with top players often being on the road for anywhere between thirty and forty weeks, while handling the pressure of results. If someone were to look at Svitolina’s schedule this year, the Ukrainian has already played 67 matches this season, while twenty days being the most amount of break she has taken between events in the year.

On the podcast, former coach Brad Gilbert also agreed with Petkovic’s view, taking a philosophical approach to the impact of the Tour’s scheduling on relationships.

“Relationships are the same for everybody, whether or not you’re playing; you’re not playing, they have all your challenges,” said Gilbert on the podcast. “You know, it’s like a tennis match, a lot of peaks and valleys.”

While Gilbert and Petkovic have discussed the schedule, Svitolina’s first social media post said that the conflict in her homeland was one of the driving forces behind her decision to end her marriage to Monfils. The former World No. 3 later clarified further in a second post about some of the personal struggles she had been feeling in recent times, all of which played a part in the decision.

The news about Svitolina and Monfils has taken the world by surprise, given some of the emotional moments the couple shared on the tennis court this year. From Svitolina in tears at Roland Garros as Monfils bid farewell to the crowd to the duo playing mixed doubles at the US Open, 2026 seemed to be a great year for the Monfils-Svitolina household until the news of the split broke.

As for Monfils, while the Frenchman has bowed out of playing in any of the Tour-level events, the former World No. 6 will have one last hurrah in Switzerland in December.

Gael Monfils Will Have One Last Ride in Switzerland

Playing at an exhibition event in Switzerland in December, Monfils will have a final chance to say goodbye to his fans. The event is being held to honor the local hero and Monfils’ peer, Stan Wawrinka, who is also retiring this year.

The lineup will also include two heavyweights in Roger Federer and Andy Murray, with Monfils set to partner the Brit in a fun doubles match against the Swiss pair of Federer and Wawrinka. The Frenchman is also scheduled to play a one-set singles match against Wawrinka, with two exiting veterans going face-to-face one last time in a fun atmosphere.

While Monfils might have missed the opportunity to play at the Paris Masters, the Frenchman has had no shortage of adoring farewells from all the events he has played this year, with the French Open dedicating one whole night to their local hero with the exhibition event, ‘Gael and Friends’ on Court Phillipe Chatrier.