Gael Monfils appears to have his mind on giving up tennis to spend more time with his young daughter.
Monfils is now 37 and his daughter will turn two in October with both he and wife Elina Svitolina still active in their tennis careers.
Through to the semi-finals in Qatar, Monfils said that he was still enjoying his tennis but he was missing his daughter Skai terribly while on the road.
“It’s hard,” Monfils told Tennis Majors.
“I’m going to Dubai next week so it’ll really be four weeks – we say four weeks not to say a month! – that I haven’t seen her and it’s a long time at that age when she discovers lots of things.
“We’re very lucky that FaceTime exists, but it doesn’t replace anything.”
Monfils said that Skai would accompany him and his wife Elina Svitolina to the United States in March whwere both will participate in Indian Wells and the Miami Open.
He described how difficult it was to travel with her, and expressed anxiety about not confusing or disorienting her too much.
“Fortunately, she will be with us in the United States,” Monfils added.
“The victories help a little, but it takes a long time. Tennis is cool, but I really miss my daughter. We’ve already gone to Australia for a long time with her, we’re going to go back to the United States for a long time so we don’t want to disorient her too much either. It’s a challenge.”
Monfils became professional in 2004, when he was just 18 years old.
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In the same interview, the Frenchman discussed how his professional decision was a sacrifice that prevented him from seeing his younger brother and sister grow up.
“You make a first sacrifice when you are young, in relation to your parents and your family: I didn’t really see my little brother and my little sister grow up,” he said.
Monfils also stated that he feels that he has two, three, or four years before retiring, but he admits that he needs to adjust after becoming a father.
However, he is thrilled when he is victorious since winning allows him to focus on something other than not seeing his daughter.
“And there it’s half a sacrifice not to take that time but hey I still have two or three years maximum, four if it catches fire,” Monfils continued.
“I have to adapt, and that’s also why I’m happy to win because it allows me to think about something else.”
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