Dads on Tour

Nicolas Jarry

Like Roberto Jr., Nicolas Jarry’s oldest son Juan brought smiles to fans faces last season in Shanghai, when he trotted onto court to join his dad after his victory against Diego Schwartzman. Unfazed by his surroundings, Juan sat with Jarry on the bench and soaked in the attention of those around him.

“He likes to be funny. He laughs a lot,” Jarry told ATPTour.com when asked about Juan. “He is very interactive, so we teach him a lot. To be gentle, to say hi, say goodbye, kiss, things like that. We applaud, so every time he does a good thing, he likes to applaud to something and that's very funny, so then we laugh and then he laughs because we're laughing and it's very contagious. He's a very sweet baby. He loves to discover the world as every baby. So he likes to eat the microphone or do things and play. He loves tennis. He's always looking at tennis.”

Jarry grew up in Chile and has four siblings. The No. 20 in the PIF ATP Rankings, who had a second son, Santiago, with his wife Laura in 2023, revealed that he has always wanted a big family and feels his children help him cope with the demands of the Tour.

With the majority of the season in Europe, Asia and North America, Jarry can spend long periods away from Chile, where the rest of his family and friends are based.

“It's really nice to be traveling with the family. It's amazing to be able to travel with them and to not be alone on the Tour,” said Jarry, who rushed home ahead of his second-round clash at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Cincinnati last season to await the birth of his second child. “It's very lonely. A tough profession. When I was a kid, 18, 19, 20, as I'm from Chile, every time I came to Europe I would go two months, three months without going home. So I used to miss friends, family and culture. Right now I don't have that emptiness inside of me.

“I am constantly with them. They feel that part inside of me. I've been learning to disconnect and to relax and to have fun outside of tennis. Before it was only tennis, my life and I was away. Everything that I did was tennis-related and it ends up very, very stressful and very heavy on my mental part. I'm learning to balance more, to have fun. I can play a lot with Juan every time a little bit more. It is very nice and they help me a lot to recharge another type of mental energy and to be more focused when I'm on court.”

While Jarry’s children help him decompress between matches, the three-time tour-level titlist feels his oldest son Juan is gaining a better understanding of what he does and is excited to start playing tennis with him.

“I think he already understands that I play [tennis],” Jarry said. “My wife does a great job when she always tries to take him to the matches. He usually is on the box next to my coaches and he just stays there and watches. He likes to watch me when I'm playing. He gets tired after a couple of minutes, but he's totally into watching and he throws balls and everything when I practise. I'm looking ahead to playing some tennis with him, even from the ground or throwing the ball that you can just hit the ball and things like that.”

Gael Monfils

Tennis power couple Gael Monfils and Elina Svitolina caught fans' attention in 2019 when they began dating. The pair quickly formed a close bond, with Svitolina taking Monfils to a magic show in the early days of their relationship. Two years later in 2021 the stars married and in October 2022 they had their first child, Skai.

“This is the best thing ever,” Monfils told ATPTour.com when asked about his daughter. “The best thing ever. I'm so happy and blessed to have my daughter. She's my number one priority in life. I want to do everything right, to give her everything good and raise her the best that I can.”

Monfils and Svitolina are both still competing at the top of the game, with Svitolina recently reaching the fourth round at Roland Garros. The global nature of the Tour has offered Skai the opportunity to see the world in the early years of her life, but Monfils is cautious about making sure they also provide their daughter stability.

“She's been traveling in Australia with us,” Monfils said. “We never bring her in the stadium, but she's with us in the city. She's been with us at Roland Garros. She's been with us when I won in Stockholm, she was there, also New Zealand. So she has become a traveller. But we try to mix it up a little bit because we want her to be home and feeling good. She's still young, so we might bring her maybe for the first time in the United States also, but we really want her to be sable at home. We're lucky enough to have a lot of help. It makes life easier to have a lot of help. We just want her to be happy. That's the most important.”

Monfils reached a career-high No. 6 in the PIF ATP Rankings in 2016 and has won 12 tour-level titles. Now aged 37 and at the latter stage of his career, the Frenchman has endured a more modest season in 2024, holding a 13-13 record. Monfils feels Skai gives him perspective after disappointing defeats.

“Returning from a tournament and seeing her is the best thing. It makes you forget about everything,” Monfils said. “She doesn't even know when you win, when you lose. Sometimes I wish that she could understand that sometimes a bit better to see what we've been achieving, but that's also the beauty. When we go back home, or we go back to the hotel, she's there, she takes Daddy by the hand and she wants to play. She doesn't know that you have played a five-setter. It brings it back to her, so that's good.”