A female star who secretly quit tennis last year has returned to the sport in a new role.
Camila Giorgi, 33, walked away from tennis and moved to America to start a career as a lingerie model.
Giorgi did not initially announce her retirement last May, but she was named on the International Tennis Integrity Agency’s list of retired players, and later confirmed her playing career was over.
Nine months on, Giorgi has returned to tennis as a reporter at this week’s Argentine Open in Buenos Aires.
Giorgi has been spotted interviewing players at the ATP 250 event less than a year after turning her back on the sport.
Her shock retirement came amid rumours that the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) had been unable to get hold of her for two months.
Camila Giorgi (pictured) quit tennis last year to become a lingerie model
The Italian star secretly quit the sport amid a row over tax and unpaid rent
Giorgi has now returned to tennis as a reporter at the Argentine Open in Buenos Aires this week
At that time, speculation was rife over a reported move to the US, with some suggesting she fled her native Italy in a bid to evade tax authorities.
The model, who has around 720,000 followers on Instagram, was then accused of failing to pay rent and removing ‘half the furniture’ from a rented villa in Calenzano, near Florence, by her aggrieved former landlord.
Giorgi denied the allegations, and explained her version of events in a TV interview in October.
Speaking on Canale 5’s Verissimo, Giorgi said: ‘Did I suddenly disappear? That’s the version they said.
‘I didn’t disappear, I had to make an announcement in Paris about my withdrawal, then it came out on the anti-doping website that I had retired and the thing became public.
‘I lived a little in Italy and a little in the United States. We stayed in Miami for 3 years. I would like to stay there forever, but I often return to Italy, I just don’t like to talk about what I do and it seems like I’m hiding… Now I’m happy, I’m where I would like to be.’
After months of uncertainty over her location, her lawyer Edmondo Tomaselli also claimed she did not ‘run away’.
Mr Tomaselli told Mail Sport that Giorgi also denies the allegations made by her former landlord.
Giorgi also remains under investigation following accusations that she used a fake Covid vaccination certificate to get into the Australian Open in 2022, which she and her father angrily deny.
As per Bild, she faces a trial over this case with her lawyer saying she is set to ask the judge for a shortened trial.
The lawyer added that Giorgi denies the allegations levelled against her.
It came after Italian doctor Daniela Grillone, who had been under investigation by authorities for allegedly delivering fake Covid-19 vaccinations to patients, alleged that Giorgi never received the jab despite her featuring in the second round.
At the time she said: ‘I did everything what they ask, the Australian government. Each year we are fine with that. Of course. I did all vaccination, yes.’
Giorgi was accused of failing to pay rent and removing ‘half the furniture’ from a rented villa in Calenzano, near Florence last year
Giorgi denied the allegations after also being caught up in a row over her vaccination status
Giorgi is now back in tennis and has been spotted interviewing players this week
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Giorgi said she received one vaccination with Grillone and completed the rest of her requirements with other medical practitioners.
‘The doctor has been investigate (sic), and she had troubles in this year with the law a few times,’ Giorgi said.
‘I just did all my vaccination in different places. So the trouble is hers. Not me. So with that, I’m very calm.’
Giorgi had won four titles on the WTA circuit and reached the quarter-finals of Wimbledon in 2018 – achieving a career-high world ranking of 26 that year.
