Former British player Elena Baltacha, 30, revealed on Friday morning that she had been diagnosed with liver cancer.
"I have recently been diagnosed with cancer of the liver. I'm currently undergoing treatment and fighting this illness with everything I have," Baltacha said in a statement via the British Lawn Tennis Association's website.
The news prompted a wave of positive support for the Scot on Twitter, with friends such as Billie Jean King, Laura Robson, Lindsay Davenport and many others offering their well wishes.
The former top-50 member of the WTA recently retired in late November of 2013, saying, "My body has taken such a bruising over the last 16 years and that's finally taken its toll. I have had some amazing experiences through playing tennis - some incredible highs and some very low lows - and I wouldn’t change any of them but now my mind and my body are telling me it’s time to move on to a new phase of my life."
At age 19, Baltacha was diagnosed with primary sclerosing cholangitis, a liver condition which affects the immune system. However, she rarely, if ever, allowed it to affect her play on the court.