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EXCLUSIVE: Former tennis starlet Tanysha Dissanayake on the heartache of being forced to retire aged 21 due to long Covid as the Brit admits she is too 'jealous' to watch Wimbledon this year

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Next week could have been the start of the biggest fortnight of Tanysha Dissanayake's life. But instead of playing at Wimbledon, the former bright star of British tennis will simply hope to venture out of her Surrey home for a couple of brief hours having seen her life wrecked by long Covid.

All of the signs suggested that her game was heading in the right direction and that her dream of playing in a Grand Slam tournament would blossom into a reality.

Aged 18, Dissanayake was on the precipice of breaking into the world's top 1,000 after a strong showing as a qualifier at a third-tier tournament in Sunderland.