Rebecca Marino’s comeback becomes the biggest story of the National Bank Open

Rebecca Marino (Robbie Saurus, Wikimedia Commons)

Over the first three days of the 2021 National Bank Open in Montreal, Quebec, you would be hardpressed to find a bigger story at the moment, than the remarkable comeback of former world number 38 Rebecca Marino of Vancouver, British Columbia to professional women’s tennis.

About a decade ago, Marino was one of tennis’s rising stars. In 2010, she reached the second round of her first career major before being beaten by Venus Williams at the U.S. Open, and also that same year reached the quarterfinals of the Bell Challenge in Quebec City, where she hammered future Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli of France, 6-3, 6-1. Then in 2011, Marino reached the main draw in all four majors, and got as far as the third round of the French Open. She also made the final of Memphis a decade ago where she beat Romania’s Sorana Cirstea, American Coco Vandeweghe, and Russian Evgeniya Rodina. Then at the end of the year, Marino beat future French Open finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the first round of Luxembourg.

However, despite Marino’s success on the tennis court, she was a victim of cyberbullying off of it. This caused significant mental health issues, and Marino left professional tennis entirely, to earn an English degree at the University of British Columbia, and join the UBC Thunderbirds rowing team.

Now, Marino has made a comeback to professional women’s tennis, and the tennis world is cheering for her. At the 2021 National Bank Open in Montreal, she has come away with two fantastic wins. The first over American and former U.S. Open finalist Madison Keys, 6-3, 6-3, and the second over Paula Badosa of Spain, 1-6, 7-5, 6-4.

The tennis world has been criticized by how they handled world number two Naomi Osaka and her mental health issues at the French Open this year. Marino’s comeback to tennis from her unfortunate circumstances is being closely watched, and in the process, has developed many more tennis fans.

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