The tennis world was shocked today when the 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone broke her social media silence with a video in which she announced that she has successfully finished a seven-month battle with cancer.
The 39-year-old, who retired following the 2018 US Open, has not revealed the type of cancer diagnosed, but with a smile on her face the Italian assured us that tough times are behind her:
I did chemotherapy, I fought a tough battle and now I am still breathing. I have won this fight. And now I am back in action.
Former colleagues Marion Bartoli, Coco Vandeweghe, Jelena Jankovic, Kristina Mladenovic, Ajla Tomljanovic, Flavia Pennetta, Dinara Safina, Sara Errani, Daniela Hantuchova, Casey Dellacqua, Sabine Lisicki, Roberta Vinci and Madison Keys were all very quick to respond to Schiavone’s story and send her words of encouragement on Twitter and Instagram.
The former world No.4 and winner of eight WTA titles had a fruitful tennis career and she walked away from the sport content with her achievements:
When I was 18 years old, I had two dreams. The first one was to win Roland Garros, and the second one was to become top 10 in the world. And I completed them, so I’m very, very happy, and lucky.
