Victoria Duval (born 30 November 1995) is an American professional tennis player. She was born in Miami and spent some of her childhood in Haiti, including time training at the JOTAC Tennis Academy in Port-au-Prince. To continue improving Vicky’s tennis game, Nadine moved with her to Atlanta. It was here that she worked with coach Brian de Villiers, at the Racquet Club of the South.
In 2012, Duval played in the Under 18 USTA National Championships as the 17th seed. Despite the low ranking, she won the tournament by defeating Alexandra Kiick in the final. With the title, she earned a wildcard into the main draw of the US Open. Later that summer, she played in the Junior US Open and reached the semifinals. In that tournament, Duval knocked out 2012 Junior Wimbledon champion Eugenie Bouchard before falling to Anett Kontaveit.
Unfortunately, she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma during her 2014 Wimbledon tournament which drained her of all vigour. She never lost hope and went ahead to compete against Sorana Cristea whom she defeated in 3 sets. It was during this period that she received the news of her ailment from the doctors but she decided to continue with the game.
Later during the second round she faced defeat at the hands of Bellinda Bencic. From there she left for United States to undergo treatment and chemotherapy. She and her mother called the treatment “Chemo-dancing”. This itself stands witness to the high spirits of the player who did not let herself fall prey to the deadly disease.
After more than two years of intermittently appearing on the tour, Duval returned to playing more regularly on the ITF Circuit starting in April 2017. She had immediate success in her first tournament back, reaching the semifinals at the $80K event in Indian Harbour Beach. Duval again entered the qualifying tournament for the US Open, but had to retire in the final round against good friend and fellow cancer survivor Allie Kiick.
A few weeks after the Grand Slam tournament, she reached her first final in over three years at a $25K event. The following month, she reached the biggest final of her career at the Tennis Classic of Macon, losing to former top-30 player Anna Karolína Schmiedlová. With this result, Duval returned to the top 250 in the WTA rankings.
According to en.wikipedia and zuviuslifesciences.in. Source of photos: internet
