‘Tennis memories kept me alive during illness,’ says Marion Bartoli of her comeback
The 2013 Wimbledon champion explains why she is returning, having suffered a mysterious disease that made her fear for her life
Former Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli said that she first considered making a professional comeback while suffering from a mystery illness last year.
The Frenchwoman was forced to pull out of an exhibition event at Wimbledon last year because of the virus, which medical experts said was so rare they had no name for it.
But on Tuesday, Bartoli announced that she would return to the WTA Tour in 2018, aiming to be ready for the Miami Open in March, after recovering from the illness despite losing 20 kilograms of weight in a matter of months.
Watch Marion Bartoli discuss her comeback
“If what happened to me in 2016 hadn’t happened, I don’t think I would have had that strong feeling of wanting to come back to the court,” the 33-year-old said.
“The start of this all came on the most difficult day of my life, when Wimbledon decided not to allow me to play the legends’ matches because they thought I could have a heart attack and die on the court.