Ranked 556th in a cut-throat world: Stories from tennis’ other side

Marina Yudanov is the 556th best tennis player in the world. It is an unremarkable statistic that hides a remarkable story.

Back at the start of 2017, Yudanov, 29, was earning more than £30,000 a year as an engineer for Volvo in her native Sweden.

She was financially secure and settled, physically at least, in the buzzing second city of Gothenburg. But something was missing.

That was when she threw herself into the cut-throat world of a hustling lower-level tennis pro, in search of what might have been.

She funds this testing journey herself, giving everything on court and scrimping everywhere off it. Mammoth roadtrips over expensive plane tickets, cheap rental flats instead of hotels, sometimes sharing a twin room with the player she is facing the next day.

"Nothing of what I say is me whining or complaining, I really am not," Yudanov says.

"I am so grateful that I have the opportunity to do this but it is very difficult."