Selima Sfar, the former Tunisian tennis player who reached number 75 in the WTA, has revealed in an interview with L'Equipe that she was raped by her former coach, Regis De Camaret, 35 years ago when she was only 12 years old.

The Tunisian says that at the age of 12 she decided to become a professional tennis player. She tried out at Roland Garros, and then decided to leave Tunisia and go to a tennis school in Biarritz with Regis de Camaret.

A few months after she was already at the school, on one of the trips from Tunis to Bordeaux, De Camaret came to pick her up at the airport.

"In the middle of the trip, it was one o'clock in the morning, he stopped on the side of the road and started touching me, doing things to me. At the time I didn't even know what was happening, I didn't understand anything. Thirty-five years ago, 12 years is not 12 years now. All I knew was that he was one of the best coaches in the world, a little 'God' of tennis in France and, if I really wanted to become a champion, I needed him," Sfar said.

Once they arrived at the coach's house, Sfar recalls how he went to his room and she stayed on the sofa bed.

"An hour or two later I woke up and he touched me. Then he went from touching to raping, very quickly. Each time it was the same, I was paralyzed. It lasted almost three years," she explains.

"At 16 or 17 I started to rebel. I couldn't take it anymore. I felt a horrible rage, a sadness. I didn't want to train with him anymore, I couldn't. I went to Bordeaux, where I trained for a year and a half with Henri Dumont.

"Then I decided to go to London and not have a coach anymore. It was a radical decision. I trained alone six hours a day. I was disciplined and made it to the top 100."

Others have shared their stories as well

In 2005, French tennis player Isabelle Demongeot published her book Service and Volley, in which she revealed that she had been raped for nine years by Regis de Camaret.

"At the time I hadn't even admitted it to myself, I told myself that nothing had happened when a part of me knew it had happened," she added.

"I wasn't prepared for my parents to find out like that. It was impossible. It took me 25 years to admit it to myself and 35 years to say it publicly. I respect Isabelle Demongeot and all the women who spoke out. I don't judge anyone."

Demongeot's complaint and that of 20 other female tennis players eventually brought De Camaret to trial, and in 2014 he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

"The worst thing about all these years is to remove the guilt and shame. Even in my family some people would tell me why didn't you say no. It's the worst thing you can hear," admits Sfar.