The British tennis star, 30-year-old Elena Baltacha, died of liver cancer this weekend, while her husband and coach Nino Severino whom she married in December of last year was left devastated. Baltacha was diagnosed with the cancer early in January of 2014.
“We are heartbroken beyond words at the loss of our beautiful, talented and determined Bally,” Severino said in a statement, according to the Guardian.
The family statement also said that Baltacha died peacefully at home.
“She was an amazing person and she touched so many people with her inspirational spirit, her warmth and her kindness,” the statement read.
Baltacha was diagnosed with sclerosing chlongitis at the age of 19, which is a chronic liver disease that was destroying her bile ducts. She was taking medicine throughout her professional career. From 2009 to 2011, Baltacha was the number 1 tennis star in Britain. In November 2013 she retired from tennis.
Baltacha was of Ukrainian origin, and her father, Sergei was a footballer for Dynamo Kiev who played in the 1982 World Cup.
“She was fighter during her days in sport and she is a fighter now,” her father told CNN weeks before Baltacha died.
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