In her first ` Sport column at the Australian Open, Wimbledon semi-finalist and WTA star Elina Svitolina talks about how she and her husband Gael Monfils – France's former world number six – had to postpone their flights because their daughter Skai was ill was.
As every parent knows, you will have to postpone other events with your own child if he or she is sick. For a tennis player, that could even mean tournaments.
At Christmas, Skai got sick and had to go to the emergency room with me and Gael for six hours. She was not well and became very ill.
So we had to postpone our flight to Auckland where we played before Melbourne. It was a quick decision and we considered whether she would come with us later.
These are things you wouldn't think of without a child. If a team member gets sick, you still go. Of course, it's completely different when it's your child.
We wouldn't have come if she had been worse.
Luckily she ended up getting better very quickly and after two days she felt much better.
Since I was starting the season at the Auckland Classic, there were five days between our hospital stay and the flight to New Zealand, so I had some time.
Health comes first and if there was a risk of her getting worse we wouldn't have brought her and she would have stayed home.
We were worried about her at first, but with antibiotics she got better very quickly. Then we got the green light to travel.
Due to the warmer weather in New Zealand, it was actually more beneficial for her to recover from the antibiotics there.
It was the first time she got really sick and it's a new experience for us as parents.
But I'm glad we got through it and it's good that we made the decision to bring her here. She is now at 100% and it is a pleasure to have her here in Melbourne.
Comments are closed.