Gael Monfils has proclaimed that there is “no animosity” between him and Elina Svitolina following the pair’s separation as he urged people to “respect” his ex-partner.

Last week, Svitolina announced on Instagram that she had decided to part ways with Monfils, highlighting the impact of the war in Ukraine as a factor.

After Svitolina’s post sparked some harsh criticism on social media, the 32-year-old released a second statement to “clarify” her initial message.

On Friday, Monfils addressed the split for the first time and described the backlash Svitolina has faced as “unkind at best, and venomous at worst.”

The news of the separation came shortly after it emerged Monfils had retired from tennis earlier than his previous plan to bow out at next month’s Paris Masters.

The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) added Monfils to its ‘retired’ list and confirmed the Frenchman had removed himself from the sport’s anti-doping protocols — meaning he is no longer eligible to enter competitive tournaments.

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Monfils spoke about his breakup with Svitolina and the unexpected end to his career in a livestream on his Twitch account on Monday.

The 40-year-old defended Svitolina while admitting it is “annoying” that his retirement was caused by the split.

“We’re no longer a couple, but we’re truly a family. She’s no longer my wife, but the mother of my daughter,” Monfils said (translated from French).

“I shared eight years of my life with Elina. She helped me so much, to keep playing tennis. I could have stopped much sooner, and people forget that.

“She needs to be left alone. We have the right to do what we want. We’re a public couple, we’re separating respectfully, and we have a child.

“We didn’t announce it immediately; we’ve been apart for a while now. People might have thought it was a sudden breakup.

“Unfortunately, there are unexplained things in life, demons we can’t fight, but we can respect each other. She respected me by telling me her feelings, I respected her by accepting what she told me, and I ask people to do the same.

“She has her own reasons. Yes, it hurt me, it may have pushed me to make a decision that’s annoying for a lot of people, myself included, but there’s no animosity.”

The former world No 6 added: “I have one last thing to add about Elina. It was complicated, things got out of hand.

“Elina is fabulous — people don’t realise that. Elina chose to end our relationship; it’s very hard for me, but I respect her decision.

“Many people didn’t understand, but Elina didn’t do anything wrong; she has her own feelings, her own struggles.

“We’re still very close, we have a little girl, we have a lot of respect for each other, we talk a lot.

“I don’t want to get into our private lives, but we tried a lot of things. She wasn’t feeling well, and again, I respect her decision.”

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