Kleybanova wins on her return from treatment
Source: Agencies |
March 22, 2012, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
ALISA Kleybanova has won her first match on return to tennis from treatment for cancer.
The 248th-ranked Kleybanova, who received a wildcard entry into the Sony Ericsson Open tournament, dropped the first set to Johanna Larsson of Sweden before rebounding to secure a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory at Key Biscayne, Florida, on Tuesday.
Kleybanova was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma last May and it has been 10 months since the 22-year-old Russian played a professional match.
"I'm really happy I won the match, but I really enjoyed playing," Kleybanova said. "It's not like if I didn't win it today I would be all mad. Just to feel again all those emotions was really great and something I missed the most from tennis."
Kleybanova said she was constantly getting sick last year with flu-like symptoms and fatigue that would go away for a while and come back.
Finally, after she lost to Shahar Peer of Israel in the second round of the 2011 Rome tournament in May, she decided to undergo complete medical testing. The diagnosis came as a shock. But her competitive instincts went into overdrive as she prepared to battle cancer.
"Doing professional sport you always have something, some pain," Kleybanova said. "You have so much fatigue every day. No one was expecting something like that, but on the other hand I knew something was wrong and I wanted to figure out what was wrong. I knew it was going to be a very tough time for me, another big fight and take a long time, so I had to be focused."
The 248th-ranked Kleybanova, who received a wildcard entry into the Sony Ericsson Open tournament, dropped the first set to Johanna Larsson of Sweden before rebounding to secure a 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory at Key Biscayne, Florida, on Tuesday.
Kleybanova was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma last May and it has been 10 months since the 22-year-old Russian played a professional match.
"I'm really happy I won the match, but I really enjoyed playing," Kleybanova said. "It's not like if I didn't win it today I would be all mad. Just to feel again all those emotions was really great and something I missed the most from tennis."
Kleybanova said she was constantly getting sick last year with flu-like symptoms and fatigue that would go away for a while and come back.
Finally, after she lost to Shahar Peer of Israel in the second round of the 2011 Rome tournament in May, she decided to undergo complete medical testing. The diagnosis came as a shock. But her competitive instincts went into overdrive as she prepared to battle cancer.
"Doing professional sport you always have something, some pain," Kleybanova said. "You have so much fatigue every day. No one was expecting something like that, but on the other hand I knew something was wrong and I wanted to figure out what was wrong. I knew it was going to be a very tough time for me, another big fight and take a long time, so I had to be focused."
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