Lyon (AFP)

Former tennis hope stopped in adolescence by a growth disease, Caroline Vernet finally realizes her dream of playing at the professional level at the age of 27 after a slow reconstruction.

Through the little door.

At an age when illusions are usually gone for those who have not made it through, the Lyonnaise has just played her first two tournaments on the ITF circuit, the lowest international level, in Monastir in Tunisia.

Far from the lights of Roland-Garros, which began on Sunday, with Caroline Garcia, her former interleague partner, and Kristina Mladenovic alongside whom she represented France in under 14 years, Caroline Vernet gleaned her first WTA points / ITF by playing two round of 16.

With their sights set on a first ranking at the WTA, the entity that organizes the women's world circuit.

"At 14, I was -2/6, N.1 French of the year in front of Garcia and Mladenovic. A growth disease in the back and another in the thumb preventing me from holding my racquet destroyed my dreams. It was too risky at my age to operate. It was the consequence of an inadequate management of my training ", explains to AFP the player, already out of school at the time and forced to stop tennis prematurely .

Before this stoppage, she had notably beaten at the Petits As de Tarbes, the 14-year-old World Cup, the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, now world No. 5 ...

- "Sure to be pro" -

"Since the age of 9, I had no plans to do anything else. I was sure I was pro and formatted to be," she says.

His world and his life project then collapsed.

Complicated adolescence, uncertain studies, odd jobs, depression: the result is brutal before a reconstruction, from 25 years, around tennis, again.

What to have more perspective on the performances, good or bad, and a certain mental strength.

"I took seriously in 2018 with the ranking of 4/6. The technique is still there accompanied by a lot of re-athletic work and, after having + taken + eight rankings, I am today -15, at the gates of the 60 French premieres, ”she explains.

But at this level of competition, the immense challenge is to find the 30,000 to 40,000 euros necessary to finance his season, an even more delicate task in times of Covid-19.

"Two weeks in Monastir, where the grounds and club-hotel are on the same complex, for two tournaments, cost me a thousand euros in accommodation and food, plus the trip. I am obviously in deficit", recognizes Caroline Vernet who has collected a few thousand euros thanks to a crowdfunding platform "to start, no more".

- Funding to be found -

And the player, pro without having the status, surrounded by a mini-structure led by her coach and future husband, cannot really work outside of tennis either under penalty of training less.

"I do not set myself any goal limit, now with a brand new athletic body that no longer feels pain. Age is not a criterion and I still have room for improvement," says T - she, confident to have "already beaten a 700th player in the world and a French N.40 opponent".

And in Monastir, what did she discover?

"A fairly nice atmosphere", she testifies, portraying herself "as a novice at this level, a kind of big sister in the midst of young people from 18 to 21".

"I communicate more with the players than in France. Maybe because we are all in the same boat looking at the wallet and looking for points to get out of it," she continues.

"In qualifying, there is no referee and we do not change the balls unlike the final draw, where there is a chair judge but no lines judges", she also mentions .

An environment far from comfort, even in times of Covid, Roland-Garros that a teenager, she dreamed of playing.

© 2020 AFP