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ONE of Spain's top female tennis players is back in practice barely three months after finishing gruelling cancer treatment and already looking to be at Wimbledon this year.
Carla Suárez Navarro was diagnosed in late August 2020 with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, which she announced publicly on September 1 - two days before her 32nd birthday.
She was undergoing chemotherapy until January 25, her last session, after which she said she was 'not afraid' and had 'never given up'.
Already, Carla is back training, and is still hopeful of getting through to the Tokyo Olympics, due to take place this summer after being put back a year as a consequence of the pandemic.
She has competed in three previous Games – Peking 2008, where she fell in the first round; London 2012, where she got through to the second round, and Rio 2016, where she made it to the third – and as the cut-off date for Tokyo is June 7, Carla is keen to get back on the circuit as soon as she can.
Her WTA ranking of world number 68 is protected, and means she can compete in two Grand Slam tournaments, with the forthcoming French Open at Paris' Roland Garros stadium being her big chance to rise in the standings.
She finished the 2019 season as world number 44, and as at the end of February 2016, was world number six.
Carla is determined to get to Wimbledon, which will take place between June 28 and July 11 this year, in the best possible conditions of fitness and technique, and this will also be a dry run for the Olympics if she makes the cut.
Born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and turning to the WTA professional circuit at age 20 – the same year she started her Grand Slam career and took part in her first Olympics – Carla's life-plan has veered off course somewhat in the past year or so: She had planned to retire after the 2020 season, which was to include the Olympics, but this was mostly called off altogether because of the global Covid-19 outbreak and, before it was properly up and running again, she was diagnosed with cancer.
So she has decided to keep at it for a while longer in order to 'go out with a bang', and the outcome of the Tokyo Olympics could be key in whatever she chooses to do next.
Whilst she has only won two WTA singles tournaments – along with another six International Tennis Federation (ITF) titles and a handful of championships as a child and teenager, plus three WTA and four ITF doubles titles – Carla's winnings currently stand at just under US$11.7 million.
“Very cheered to be training again! I thank you with all my heart for the love you've been sending me,” she tweeted her fans, along with a picture of herself next to the court.
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