Tennis prodigy raped by coach, trapped ‘in prison’ from the age of 12

Tennis prodigy raped by coach, trapped ‘in prison’ from the age of 12

WARNING: This article accommodates content material that will disturb some readers

A former tennis star has revealed she was raped as a toddler thrice per day by her coach.

And she described the stunning ordeal as being trapped “in prison” from the age of 12, The Sun reviews.

French prodigy Angelique Cauchy began working with coach Andrew Gueddes aged 12 in 1999 on the Sarcelles Tennis Club in North Paris.

However, inside weeks, convicted baby rapist Gueddes began sexually harassing Cauchy.

Gueddes was sentenced to 18 years in jail in 2021 after being discovered responsible of raping and sexually assaulting 4 women aged between 12 and 17.

Cauchy, 36, estimates that the abuse she suffered totalled 200 instances per yr – however insists the tennis membership’s president ignored the complaints as a result of Gueddes was a profitable coach.

The survivor testified to the Palais Bourbon, a part of the French National Assembly, final week.

She stated: “It happened within not even two or three months.

“I told him, ‘No, you shouldn’t, it’s not right, I don’t want to.’

“And he replied to me, ‘You know it happens sometimes in relationships between coach and student, we spend a lot of time together, it’s normal.’

“It was known in the tennis world that his behaviour with young girls was not correct.

“When a woman complained to the club president that he had behaved inappropriately towards young people with verbal and physical violence, the answer was, ‘Yes, but he brings us titles.’

“At 38, you don’t go out with a girl of 15, let alone when you’re training her.”

Cauchy additionally opened up bravely on the trauma she skilled throughout a 15-day coaching camp in La Baule, West France, the place Gueddes’ predatory behaviour was inescapable.

And she revealed it was so unhealthy that she thought-about taking her personal life to place an finish to the horrific abuse.

Cauchy – who’s now a PE instructor and tennis coach – was additionally blackmailed by Gueddes into believing she had contracted Aids from her coach.

She stated in a heartbreaking assertion: “I lived the worst two weeks of my life.

“I thought many times about committing suicide.

“He raped me three times a day.

“The first night he asked me to go to his room and I didn’t do it, then he came into mine.

“It was worse. I was in prison.

“I couldn’t get out when I wanted and afterwards, I had to stay in the place where it had happened.

“The evenings after, it seems crazy, but I went there on my own, and I took those thirteen steps that separated me from his room.

“I lived between 13 and 18 years old thinking I had AIDS.”

In April 2022, 21-time doubles Grand Slam champion and world No1 Pam Shriver revealed she had a “traumatic”, “damaging” and “inappropriate” relationship along with her coach.

Last September, Pierre Bouteyre – the ex-coach of French tennis ace Fiona Ferro – was charged with raping and sexually assaulting her when she was a teen.

Bouteyre, 52, denied the claims, saying their relationship was “a true love story”.

– This article first appeared in The Sun and was republished with permission.

Source: www.news.com.au