Trevisan at the French Open – fought anorexia for many years, now she is in the semifinals – sport

The Italian Martina Trevisan has played her way into a major semi-final for the first time. In the past, she has struggled with her health.

It cannot be taken for granted that Martina Trevisan is where she is today. The 28-year-old Italian fought her way into the semi-finals at the French Open and is among the top 4 in a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in her career. Just two weeks ago, the number 59 in the world rankings celebrated her very first tournament victory in Rabat, and now she has followed this masterpiece in Roland Garros. Trevisan is in the shape of her life.

30 grams of muesli and a piece of fruit in the evening. That was enough to keep me on my feet for a day.

That the Italian has managed to do this is admirable. Because after a promising start to her career with impressive results in the juniors, she was struggling with her health.

«30 grams of muesli and a piece of fruit in the evening. That was enough to keep me going for a day,” Trevisan wrote in 2020 in a blog The Owl Post. In it, she revealed for the first time that she had suffered from anorexia for years. “My father was diagnosed with a degenerative disease, he was less and less present in my life,” writes the 28-year-old, “I hated my muscular body and prescribed myself diets that were almost impossible to follow.”

Four-year hiatus

In 2010 she therefore took a break from tennis. For 4 years she refrained from professional sports and was able to recover from her illness. Slowly but surely she found her way back onto the court.

Trevisan won various titles at ITF level before she attracted more attention again in 2020 – also in Roland Garros – with a quarter-final entry. Now, two years later, she can even top that. «My past is past. She helped me to be what I am today, »she said after the quarter-final win against the Canadian Leylah Fernandez (WTA 18), who previously beat Belinda Bencic. “I’m happy on the court. I’m doing what I love.”

The last hurdle on the way to her first Grand Slam final is Coco Gauff (WTA 23). For the American, who is ten years her junior, it will also be the first semi-final at major level. The two athletes have only met once before on the tour: in Paris in 2020 in the round of the top 64, when Trevisan first beat the young talent and then played through to the quarterfinals.