Victoria Duval
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Victoria Duval (born 30 November 1995) is an inactive American
tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...
player. Duval has won one singles title and two doubles titles on the
ITF Women's Circuit The ITF Women's World Tennis Tour, previously known as the ITF Women's Circuit, is a series of professional tennis tournaments run by the International Tennis Federation for female professional tennis players. History It serves as a developmenta ...
. In August 2014, she reached her best singles ranking of No. 87. In 2012, she had won the USTA Girls' 18s National Championships.


Early life

Duval was born in
Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
and spent some of her childhood in
Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...
, including time training at the JOTAC Tennis Academy in
Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( ; ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Haiti, most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 1,200,000 in 2022 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The me ...
. While living in Port-au-Prince, Duval was robbed at gunpoint and held hostage at her aunt's house at the age of 7. Victoria's mother gave up her neonatal practice and moved Victoria and her two brothers to south Florida. Her father stayed behind to continue the gynecology and obstetrics practice he had helped build 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 January 2010, Vicky was training in Atlanta when a terrible earthquake struck Haiti and her father was trapped under collapsing walls outside his home for 11 hours. After he regained consciousness, he was able to dig himself out of the rubble. His legs were broken, his left arm was crushed, he had seven fractured ribs puncturing his lungs, and an infection spreading throughout his body. He survived an emergency operation in his own backyard. A wealthy Atlanta family connected to the tennis club donated enough money to have him airlifted to a Fort Lauderdale hospital.


Junior career

In 2012, Duval played in the Under-18
USTA The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national Sport governing body, governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and devel ...
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 US Open and reached the junior semifinals. In that tournament, Duval knocked out 2012 Wimbledon junior champion
Eugenie Bouchard Eugenie "Genie" Bouchard (; , ; born February 25, 1994) is a Canadian professional tennis and pickleball player. At the 2014 Wimbledon Championships – Women's singles, 2014 Wimbledon Championships, she became the first Canadian-born player repr ...
, before falling to
Anett Kontaveit Anett Kontaveit (; born 24 December 1995) is an Estonian former professional tennis player. She was WTA rankings, ranked as high as world No. 2 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), which she first achieved on 6 June 2022 to become the highes ...
.


Professional career


Early years

Duval kicked off her 2012 season in May by reaching her first professional final at the $10k tournament in
Sumter Sumter may refer to: People Given name * Sumter S. Arnim (1904–1990), American dentist * Sumter de Leon Lowry Jr. (1893–1985), United States Army general Surname * Rowendy Sumter (born 1988), Curaçaoan footballer * Shavonda E. Sumt ...
, South Carolina at the age of 16, where she was defeated by compatriot
Louisa Chirico Louisa Chirico (born May 16, 1996) is an American tennis player. On 24 October 2016, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 58. On 6 March 2017, she peaked at No. 184 in the WTA doubles rankings. Chirico has won seven singles titles ...
. With a wildcard as the 18s girls' national champion, Duval made her Grand Slam debut at the 2012 US Open. She lost to three-time champion
Kim Clijsters Kim Antonie Lode Clijsters (; born 8 June 1983) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for 20 weeks, and as the world No. 1 in women's double ...
in the first round. The following year, Duval qualified for the US Open and scored a huge upset win over the 2011 champion
Samantha Stosur Samantha Jane Stosur (born 30 March 1984) is an Australian former professional tennis player. She is a former List of WTA number 1 ranked doubles tennis players, world No. 1 in doubles, a ranking which she first achieved on 6 February 2006 and ...
in the first round. She followed this up with her first career title at an $50k event in
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
in November.


2014—2016: Breakthrough, cancer diagnosis, knee surgery

During the qualifying rounds of
Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...
in 2014, Duval was diagnosed with
Hodgkin's lymphoma Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a type of lymphoma in which cancer originates from a specific type of white blood cell called lymphocytes, where multinucleated Reed–Sternberg cells (RS cells) are present in the lymph nodes. The condition was named a ...
. Nonetheless, she decided to remain in the tournament, and was able to qualify for the main draw. In the first round, she defeated 29th seed
Sorana Cîrstea Sorana Mihaela Cîrstea (; born 7 April 1990) is a Romanian professional tennis player. In singles, she achieved a career-high ranking of world No. 21 on 12 August 2013. In doubles, her career-best ranking is No. 35, which she reached on 9 March ...
, before losing to fellow rising star
Belinda Bencic Belinda Bencic (; born 10 March 1997) is a Swiss professional tennis player. She has a career-high WTA rankings, ranking of world No. 4 which she achieved in February 2020. Bencic has won nine career singles titles, including Tennis at the 2020 ...
. With the strength of her performance at Wimbledon, Duval made her debut in the top 100 of the WTA rankings, at No. 92 in the world. Following the tournament, she proceeded to take the next 13 months off to undergo and recover from chemotherapy treatment. Duval returned to playing professional matches at an $25k tournament in August 2015. Despite the circumstances of her comeback onto the tour, she was not awarded a wildcard into the US Open. She could have entered the tournament with her protected ranking from the previous year, but elected not to do so after being unsure if she would be ready to play at the time of the entry cutoff five weeks before the start of the event. Instead, Duval opted to play in the qualifying tournament, where she lost in the second round. At the start of the 2016 season, Duval replaced an injured
Serena Williams Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American former professional tennis player. She was ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WT ...
at the
2016 Hopman Cup The Hopman Cup XXVIII was the 28th edition of the Hopman Cup tournament between nations in men's and women's tennis. It took place at the Perth Arena in Perth, Western Australia. Eight teams competed for the title, with two round robin groups o ...
. She represented the United States alongside
Jack Sock Jack Sock (born September 24, 1992) is an American former professional tennis doubles and a current pickleball player. He won four career singles titles and 17 doubles titles on the ATP Tour, and had career-high tennis rankings of world No. 8 ...
. Although she lost both of her singles matches, Duval and Sock won two out of their three mixed doubles matches, including a victory over the Czech pair of
Karolína Plíšková Karolína Plíšková (; born 21 March 1992) is a Czech professional tennis player. She has been ranked as the world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), holding the position for a total of eight weeks, and has been ...
and
Jiří Veselý Jiří Veselý (; born 10 July 1993) is a Czech professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 35 on 27 April 2015. Youth career Veselý reached the No. 1 junior combined world ranking in January 2011, co ...
. A month after the tournament, Duval announced she had knee surgery. She made a brief return for the grass-court season in the middle of the year, but ended up sitting out another ten months afterwards to return to full health.


2017: Comeback

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 Alexandra Kiick (; born June 30, 1995) is an American tennis player. Kiick has won seven singles and two doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit. In June 2019, she reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 126. In May 2014, she pea ...
. 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 Anna Karolína Schmiedlová (; born 13 September 1994) is a Slovak inactive professional tennis player. On 12 October 2015, she reached her best WTA singles ranking of world No. 26. She has won three singles titles on the WTA Tour, two singles t ...
. With this result, Duval returned to the top 250 in the WTA rankings.


Personal life

During the
2014 Wimbledon Championships The 2014 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 128th edition of the The Championships, Wimbledon, Wimbledon C ...
, it was announced that Duval had been diagnosed with
Hodgkin's lymphoma Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a type of lymphoma in which cancer originates from a specific type of white blood cell called lymphocytes, where multinucleated Reed–Sternberg cells (RS cells) are present in the lymph nodes. The condition was named a ...
. Having decided to remain entered in the tournament, she qualified into the main draw and there upset 29th seed
Sorana Cîrstea Sorana Mihaela Cîrstea (; born 7 April 1990) is a Romanian professional tennis player. In singles, she achieved a career-high ranking of world No. 21 on 12 August 2013. In doubles, her career-best ranking is No. 35, which she reached on 9 March ...
in a three-set encounter. She subsequently lost in the second round and would return to the United States to undergo treatment. She completed her chemotherapy and announced in September 2014 that she is cancer free.


ITF finals


Singles: 7 (1 title, 6 runner-ups)


Doubles: 4 (2 titles, 2 runner-ups)


Grand Slam singles performance


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Duval, Victoria 1995 births Living people American female tennis players American sportspeople of Haitian descent Tennis players from Miami Sportspeople from Port-au-Prince Sportspeople from Bradenton, Florida Hopman Cup competitors 21st-century American sportswomen