Wimbledon champion Andy Murray has pledged his support for Elena Baltacha in her fight against liver cancer.
The Dunblane star spoke of his shock and the “unfairness” of life following the diagnosis of the 30-year-old who grew up in Perth when her father Sergei played for St Johnstone.
“It does put things into perspective,” said Murray.
“People are asking me ‘oh, you’ve dropped down one place in the rankings’ and it’s like, well, it doesn’t really matter that much at the end of the day.
“It’s obviously your health that is the most important thing and it’s in situations like this when you start to realise that and respect that because life is very unfair.
“You wouldn’t expect that to happen to someone who is so young and healthy. She’s worked hard her whole life she’s an athlete, she’s done all the right thingsit sucks.”
Baltacha, Britain’s former No 1 tennis player, announced last week that she was undergoing treatment and “fighting this illness with everything I have”.
Last year the tennis world rallied round Ross Hutchins as he battled Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and the stars have agreed to repeat the Rally Against Cancer charity gala match at Queen’s Club.
“I’m sure this year when we do the Rally Against Cancer at Queen’s, that’s something that would definitely be great to get Elena involved in at an early stage,” Murray said.
“I believe that helped Ross a little bit as well so maybe that would be a nice thing to do.
“If there’s anything I could do, I’m sure any of the guys on tour, the girls, if there’s anything we could do that could help, we would do it.”
Elena, who only retired last year, has had a long-standing liver condition and experts believe the cancer may be due to a combination of the illness and exposure to the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
She was born in the Ukraine which could have had a bearing according to Professor Karol Sikora, an oncologist who advises the Ukrainian government.
He said: “It is possible there is a relationship between the radiation from Chernobyl and Elena’s cancer. Exposure to radiation increases the risk of malignancies.
“She has said she has an auto-immune liver condition, sclerosing cholangitis. This, along with the increased exposure to radiation, may have caused liver cancer to develop.”