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Cancer-conqueror Nicole Gibbs loses to Hale
Updated On: 29 August, 2019 09:29 AM IST | | AFP
Gibbs, ranked 135th in the world after a lengthy layoff, forced a third set with the fourth-seeded Romanian at Louis Armstrong Stadium but settled for a moral victory of huge magnitude
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USA's Nicole Gibbs. Pic/AFP
New York: Nicole Gibbs lost to reigning Wimbledon champion Simona Halep in the first round of the US Open on Tuesday, but only after winning a battle with cancer to even play. The 26-year-old American underwent surgery in May to treat salivary gland cancer and fought back to try and qualify for the year's final Grand Slam tournament in New York. She fell in the final round of qualifying but got into the main draw as a "lucky loser" after other women dropped out, setting her up against Halep, who last month dispatched 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams in the Wimbledon final. Gibbs, ranked 135th in the world after a lengthy layoff, forced a third set with the fourth-seeded Romanian at Louis Armstrong Stadium but settled for a moral victory of huge magnitude.
"I've always known that I'm a fighter," Gibbs said. "But to be through the journey I've been through over the past few months, to land myself on Armstrong playing against one of the best in the game, and going the distance, I think that really just reinforces it for me. "I'm going to take a lot of inspiration from this, try to carry it forward into what's left in my year and my tennis career." Gibbs sees tennis and life much differently now compared to last year. "I think I do have a new perspective, that it's not life and death out there," Gibbs said.
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