Marino returns to tennis after 5-year absence

Canadian tennis player Rebecca Marino will return to competition next week for the first time in nearly five years.

Marino, a former world No. 38 from Vancouver, stepped away from the sport in early 2013 after revealing her battle with depression. Now 26, she is set to play in upcoming ITF tournaments in Saguenay, Que., and Toronto, Tennis Canada said Tuesday.

“I’m excited to come back and play in Canada, especially in tournaments that I participated in a number of times in my career,” Marino said in a release. “I made the decision to return to professional tennis a couple of months ago and started training again during the first week of September. It’s been a pretty short training schedule, but I’m doing it because I enjoy it.

“I don’t have any ranking goals or result goals right now, I just want to go in and enjoy the process and come at it from a different place than I was before. I want to be happy to be on court and compete, that’s all that matters to me.”

During her time away from the sport, Marino studied English literature at the University of British Columbia and competed on the school’s rowing team.

Marino won three Challenger events in a row in 2010 and had a memorable second-round match with Venus Williams at the U.S. Open that year. She cracked the top 40 in the world rankings in 2011 and reached the third round of the French Open.

“I am very happy that Rebecca is coming back to competition,” said Canadian Fed Cup team captain Sylvain Bruneau. “She is doing it for herself and that’s what is most important.”

The Saguenay tournament is set for Oct. 23 to 29 and the Toronto stop is scheduled for Oct. 30 to Nov. 5. The Toronto event will be held at the Aviva Centre, the home of the Ontario half of the Rogers Cup. Both tournaments are indoor hard court events with US$60,000 purses.