Aravane Rezai looked miserable during and after her 3-6, 3-6 loss to Irina-Camelia Begu in the first round of the French Open. In her post match press conference she addressed the numerous issues with her father that have made headlines in recent months
In January an argument with her father at the Australian Open became so serious that the WTA banned Arsalan Rezai from his daughters tournaments while they investigated. Rezai has revealed that she contemplated retiring from tennis after the event before firing her coach/father and making an attempt to start again
The family dramas have continued and Aravane freely admitted she wasn’t emotionally strong at the moment as she struggled to keep it together during her first round loss. “It really isn’t the best moment for me to play a tennis match
'I am not 100 percent at all. I am hanging on to my tennis because it’s what I really love to do and I hope to come back next year and win the tournament. I want to come back in peace and to be as happy as possible. There are other things more important in life
As a young player Aravane was banned from French official training grounds because of her fathers extreme behavior. He has previously been accused of physically threatening another players father and of forcing Aravane to practice late at night with only car headlights to light the court
In January, I was thinking (about retiring) but I finally decided not to stop because I love tennis. Now, I know that I will come back stronger Every single day, it’s a fight against myself. It means that I need to find a form of peace within myself, to be positive, to be at ease and not to think about my problems. Serenity is what I’m looking for every single day. Everybody knows that there are problems at the moment. But I don’t want to think about them. What I want is to be stronger every day and to find my own landmarks
Alexia (new coach) was proud of me today. My goal is now to have a good staff surrounding me and to be all stronger. Now that the French Open is over, all of us will be discussing the matter and we will take the best decision for my future
Rezai has apparently severed ties with her family