PIERCE’S FAITH HELPED HER BECOME THE LAST HOME WINNER OF THE FRENCH OPEN AND HEAL HER RELATIONSHIP WITH HER ABUSIVE FATHER

BECOMING a born-again Christian led Mary Pierce to winning the French Open in 2000 – and forgiving her abusive father.

The French star is the last home player to win the singles title at Roland Garros, 20 years ago next week.

Yet as well as overcoming the pressure of her home Grand Slam, the teenage prodigy’s emotional triumph followed years of mental torture by her American father and coach Jim – the original bad tennis dad.

“The years from 10 to 18 were like hell on earth because he was so hard and mean and scary,” said Canadian-born Pierce. “I grew up scared every day.”

Pierce, who chose to represent her French mother Yannick Adjaj’s nation, cut herself off from her father when she was 18 and her parents divorced. Jim Pierce was banned from the French Open in 1993 and then the WTA Tour.

“I had a bodyguard

for

acouple of years, I had a restraining order,” she recalled. “People didn’t know the half of what I had been through while still playing tennis and training.”

At Indian Wells in March 2000, at the age of 25, Pierce became a born-again Christian.

“That is the moment my life completely changed,” she said. “It was a period where I was looking for something more. Even if I had everything in my life, I felt an emptiness.

“An extraordinary peace washed over me. I knew I had been saved. Everything made sense and I realised that this was God’s plan for my life.

“I was able to forgive and love my dad and our relationship was restored. It was a miracle when you think about everything that happened in the past.”

Three months later, the No.6 seed beat Conchita Martinez in straight sets to lift the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen.

“The two were related,” she claimed. “Playing the French Open as a French player was always the hardest event of the year because there is so much pressure, so much expectation.

“It really took all the pressure off and the stress. I felt it was going to be the year I would win Roland Garros after I won my first-round match. It was a little voice inside me.”

Pierce, 45, retired in 2006 and now splits her time between Florida and Mauritius.

“My father got very sick in February 2016 with bladder cancer and I was able to be with him and take care of him,” she told the Racquet Magazine podcast.

“One day I remember I was next to him in his hospital bed and he just started crying. He said sorry for everything.

“He was just so grateful and thankful. And I said, ‘It’s OK dad. I have forgiven you already’. He was told he had less than three months to live and passed away very quickly after that in April 2017.

“I want to live now every day like it is my last day. I want to touch people’s hearts and change people’s lives for the better.”

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