Obituary: Elena Baltacha, former tennis player

Though many people in the world of sport knew that Elena Baltacha was fighting a losing battle against liver cancer, her death at the age of 30 just two months after the diagnosis was confirmed has shocked the tennis world in particular. Her many fans and admirers and the public in general will surely be bewildered that such a young and fit sportswoman has passed away at such an early age.

Those who knew her personally were convinced that, as so often before, she would battle back from illness and injury with the courage and grit that defined her during her playing career.

Sadly, her liver was already damaged by the disease primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) from which she suffered all her adult life. That she became Britain’s top woman player, holding the official No 1 position for 132 weeks between 2009 and 2012, and broke into the top 50 in the world while suffering from that incurable condition was a truly remarkable achievement, not least because she knew of the increased risk of cancer that she faced and the knowledge that a liver transplant would be the long-term prognosis.

Elena Baltacha, known to her friends and colleagues as Bally, was born in Kiev, now the capital of Ukraine but then part of the former Soviet Union.

Her father Sergei Pavlovich Baltacha played football for Dynamo Kiev, winning numerous honours with them and being capped 45 times for the USSR. Her mother Olga was also a sporting internationalist, representing the USSR in the pentathlon and heptathlon. Her brother Sergei Jnr was also a professional footballer, playing for St Mirren and Millwall and being capped by Scotland at under-21 level.

The family moved to England when Sergei became the first Soviet Union internationalist to play in the Football League, signing for Ipswich Town in 1988 and making his debut in January, 1989.

Two years later, Sergei Baltacha moved to Perth to play for St Johnstone where he is still fondly remembered as possibly the finest defender ever to play for the club. He would later play for and manage Inverness Caledonian Thistle and is now on the coaching staff of Charlton Athletic.

It was in Perth that Elena first started to play tennis seriously, coached by Jimmy Mackechnie at Perth Lawn Tennis Club. She made rapid progress and at 15, she became the youngest ever winner of the Scottish women’s indoor championship. She also became friends with the Murray brothers, Andy and Jamie, and their mother Judy was a strong supporter of Baltacha.

Relocating first to Paisley and then London, Elena joined the International Tennis Federation’s junior circuit and also played in some adult tournaments before a serious of illnesses began to affect her.

The performance that brought her to the attention of the tennis public was her defeat of Amanda Coetzer in the second round of the Wimbledon Championships in 2002, the year she also won her first four ITF championships, two in singles and two in doubles. She exited Wimbledon in the next round when she was clearly exhausted. As a result, Baltacha underwent tests that led to her being diagnosed with PCS the following year. Doctors treating her were convinced that she was lying about being almost teetotal, so badly was her liver scarred.

She took a six month break from tennis on medical advice while starting drug treatment that enabled her to return to the courts in January 2004, when she reached the third round of the Australian Open in Melbourne, the furthest she went in any Grand Slam tournament and a feat she would repeat in 2010.

Despite numerous injuries, Baltacha became a respected player on the circuit, not least because of her enthusiasm for representing Great Britain in the Federation Cup which she did for 12 seasons consecutively from 2002 to 2013.

She was a big hitter with a two-handed backhand, and while she may have lacked the all-round skills of a Williams or a Li Na, Baltacha always gave 100 per cent on court.

Her best years on the ITF circuit were from 2008 to 2012, when she won seven ITF championships on both grass and hard courts. Three times she defeated opponents ranked in the top ten, and once gave the mighty Maria Sharapova a scare, albeit because she spoke to her in Russian in less than glowing terms.

It was at Wimbledon in 2012 that Baltacha learned she had been selected for the British team for the London Olympics. This was a particular joy for the Baltacha family as her mother had missed out on competing for the USSR in Moscow in 1980 while caring for Elena’s brother Sergei.

Baltacha’s liver disease was kept under control by drugs, and she earned plaudits by talking openly about her condition and becoming patron of the Chioldren’s Liver Disease Foundation.

Other injuries had blighted her career, however, the most serious being a back problem that required an operation on a prolapsed disc in 2008. As she had always done, Baltacha fought back after every illness and injury, but as she neared her 30th birthday, she was already talking of, and planning, her future after quitting the courts.

Baltacha finally decided to retire in November last year when her previous ankle injuries flared up again and she required a major operation.

By that time, she had already started the Elena Baltacha Academy of Tennis at Ipswich where she had set up home. She married her former coach, Nino Severino, in December 2013, just a month after her retirement. Severino had become director of the Academy and the couple were looking to develop young tennis players from all over the UK and beyond.

Then came the devastating news that her liver had become cancerous, and the speed with which the disease spread meant that even someone as courageous as Elena Baltacha could not beat it.

Elena Baltacha is survived by her husband Nino Severino, by her mother Olga, father Sergei and brother, also Sergei.