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Victoria Duval

Name: Victoria Duval
Birth date: November 30, 1995
Birth place: Miami Florida

Victoria Duval is a 19 year old Haitian-American professional tennis player who has been making a name for herself in the tennis world, and making Haitians proud with her hard work and perseverance. Also known as Vickie Duval, she moved to the United States at a young age because of insecurity in port-au-prince (a narrative we know all too well as Haitians.)

Vickie has been praised in the media for her resilience through the many hardships she has had to overcome in her young age. Hardships we can all relate to: leaving Haiti as a young girl, almost losing her father in the earthquake of 2010. Throughout all of this, she has been keeping up with the best of them. Victoria has won one singles and one doubles title, and reached her career’s highest world ranking of 87 in 2014.

Duval was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma during the 2014 Wimbledon Championship. Despite the diagnosis, Vickie continued to compete before returning to the United States for treatment. In September 2014, Victoria Duval announced that she is now cancer free.

I honor this Fanm Fò today not only for the fight in her, but also her sunny disposition and perpetual smile on her face. I honor her for her wisdom, and deep understanding of the importance of valuing life every single day. Keep making us proud, Vickie Duval!

 

photo via facebook.com/vickyduvaltennis