Vicky Duval burst into tears after just three games of her Wimbledon return on Monday - two years after playing the tournament under the dark cloud of cancer.
It was when competing in qualifying for Wimbledon in 2014 that an 18-year-old Duval was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, and she bravely played on, reaching the second round in the main draw.
Since then her life has been turned upside down, but after undergoing chemotherapy the American is healthy again, and playing in London was a giant step on a comeback which has also been delayed by a knee injury.
Now 20, Duval is battling to regain the fitness required of a professional sportswoman, with the bubbly Florida resident who was tipped for the top until illness struck now down at 572nd in the world rankings.
She was glad to be fit enough to play at Wimbledon, until emotion overcame her in a Court Four clash with Russian 19-year-old Daria Kasatkina.
"At about 3-0 in the first set, I just felt really overwhelmed. I wanted to crawl into a ball," Duval said. "Obviously I'm super happy to be here but inside I was driving myself crazy. It took a set to get me out of it."
Duval lost the match 6-0 7-5, being the first player knocked out on the opening day.
She was mindful of another emotional breakdown, saying she was "such a wreck".
"In the second set I pulled a towel over my head in case something was going to happen," Duval said. "I was like, 'I don't want anybody to look at me'. It was just a lot of emotions and they were mostly positive but I know what I'm capable of and the fact I'm not there is eating inside of me."
She sang the Drake song, One Dance, to herself during changeovers, and got a taste for the match.
"Going forward the biggest thing is going to be having patience, because it is going to be a long way back," Duval said. "My body is still recovering and healing, not only from surgery but from my past, so it's going to be hard but I've been through tougher situations in my life.
"My treatment was really hard. It takes so much out of you. I had doubts about whether I would be able to come back. It's a hard road, it's not a simple thing to go through. I'm still in the hard phase, because I'm rebuilding. It's going to take months and I'm totally confident I'll get back to where I need to me,
"I'm usually super-positive - this was a very interesting experience.
"I still have the same goals I had before everything happened. I have time on my side so I can heal properly and look forward to building up for the rest of my career and hopefully having my peak year next year."
Source: PA
