Last year at Wimbledon, Vicky Duval was living both a dream and a nightmare.
At 18, she was playing in her first Main Draw at SW19, three years after reaching the quarter-finals in the junior event. Yet, unbeknownst to many, the American had just been given the crushing news she had cancer.
Doctors worked hard to convince her that, having caught the lump on her neck at an early stage, she would almost certainly make a full recovery. Not surprising given her age, Duval was distraught and says she immediately jumped to the conclusion it was terminal.
But rather than bow out of The Championships, as many in her position would have done, Duval decided to continue playing and use the news as motivation on court.
I didn’t see how I was going to be able to deal with feeling so horrible for three months
It worked for a while. Duval came through three rounds of Qualifying, and then defeated the No.29 seed Sorana Cirstea.
When her run came to an end in the second round, at the hands of Belinda Bencic, she took time away from the game to focus on battling her cancer, later diagnosed as Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.
One year on, Duval has written a moving account of her treatment and recovery on The Players’ Tribune website.
“When I flew home, I went to the hospital to do some more tests and build a plan of treatment. Hearing the effects and process of chemotherapy terrified me. Nonetheless, I was optimistic,” she writes.
“That optimism was short lived. A few days later, after finishing my first round of chemo, I lost hope. I didn’t see how I was going to be able to deal with feeling so horrible for three months.”
Read Return, Vicky's moving Players’ Tribune article
Duval describes the painful, energy-sapping side-effects of chemotherapy and the struggle to regain fitness when her treatment were over. Despite playing tennis for the first time in November, it has taken her until now to be able to spend lengthy periods in the gym.
“I started to feel much better around April — though still not even at 50 per cent of where I was before treatment,” she says. “For the past two months, it has been steady progress: 30 minutes in the gym, turning to an hour, then turning to an hour and a half. At this rate, I’m going to be back to doing what I love in no time!”
Tennis is not only something Duval loves, but something she is good at. In 2013, she defeated Sam Stosur in the first round of the US Open, and has a career high ranking of 87.
Getting back to the level she'd reached this time last year will continue to be hard, not least because her ranking has dropped to 341, but Duval can now talk in realistic terms about her return.
“My goal is to be playing tournaments in a few weeks,” she says.
Looking back at the last 12 months, Duval is remarkably positive, and appears almost grateful for the experience. “This journey has been a tough but educational one. The most important lesson I learned is appreciation,” she says.
“God has opened my eyes to a new meaning of life, and showered me with many blessings. Little did I know how much of a blessing this illness would end up being.
“I wouldn’t change what I went through for the world.”
It is a remarkable attitude to have, and everyone in the tennis world will be willing the 19-year-old back to the highest level.
