WATCH: Gael Monfils gets a kiss as Elina Svitolina explains why they are not travelling with daughter Skai

The Monfils-Svitolina household enjoyed an excellent day one at the Citi DC Open on Monday as both Gael Monfils and Elina Svitolina picked up wins.
After Svitolina kicked things off with victory over Victoria Azarenka in the first round of the WTA 500 event, it was the turn of Monfils as he took on Bjorn Fratangelo in the late session at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center.
But before the Frenchman made his entrance onto the court, his wife was on hand to wish him good luck – accompanied with a kiss – as she made her exit from the main court following her win over Azarenka.
Former world No 6 Monfils went on to beat Fratangelo 6-3, 6-4 for his first win since his victory at the French Open at the end of May.
Svitolina was also on hand after the match to give him a congratulations kiss.
“It’s great to be back in Washington. I love the support here. I started strong and it’s another good match under my belt,” said Monfils.
“It’s a good night for both of us and hopefully we can keep it going this week.”
Monfils has struggled with injury this year and Monday’s match was only his seventh top-level encounter of the 2023 season. As a result, he has slumped to outside the top 300 in the ATP Rankings.
Tennis power couple Monfils and Svitolina have travelled to Washington DC without their 10-month old daughter Skai.
Former world No 3 Svitolina, who climbed back into the top 30 of the WTA Rankings following her incredible successes this year, explained why they have opted not to take her to the United States.
“She’s at home. We want her to stay home for the health reasons. Health is No 1 priority for us, and it’s really changing. We know how tired it can be to travel that much. Tennis requires a lot of traveling, flying, and all this stress,” the Ukrainian said.
“You know, you’re not sleeping in your bed, you are constantly, you know, doing something and different places So we don’t want to stress her right now at the beginning.
“For sure it’s extremely tough for us. We were Face Timing this morning with her and she was super happy. Then she was looking behind the phone, you know, where we are It’s really sad for us, but, you know, we have to put the priority on her health.”