Jarmila Gajdosova announces that her mother, who was also named Jarmila, passed away while she was competing at the WTA tournament in Guangzhou last week.
“On Friday afternoon I was told my mum died,” Gajdosova wrote on the WTA website. “It was a shock. I've been very sad. I cried a lot when I found out and I still do. I can't believe my mum is gone - she was always the best mum in the world and I love her very much. I will miss her as long as I live. In a way, it feels like a really bad dream that you're trying to wake up from, but you can't. I spoke to my dad and my brother as I heard the news and they told me to keep playing, that my mum will always be home when I finish, that I can visit her when I come home, and that I still have my life and my tennis to take care of. So I was trying to win this week for my mum, but as you can imagine it was hard to concentrate, and the more I tried, the worse it got. I was very sad when I lost. It broke my heart - I really wanted to win for my mum to be proud, but I couldn't.”