A Tunisian tennis player recounts her story of being raped by her French coach multiple times over the years, as former Tunisian tennis player Salima Sfar confirmed in a lengthy interview with L'Équipe that she was raped when she was twelve and a half years old by her French coach Régis de Camaret, who was sentenced in 2014 to 10 years in prison for rape.

She told the newspaper: "When I was twelve and a half, I was abused by Régis de Camaret" for a period of "about 3 years."

De Camaret was sentenced for the aggravated rape of two underage students. Twenty-six former players testified against him, including former French number two Isabelle Domingo, regarding allegations of sexual assault and rape.

She tells her story of the rape while she was on her way back from Bordeaux Airport after coming from Tunisia: "It was one o'clock in the morning, he stopped by the road and started touching me," Sfar says. "At that moment, I didn’t know what was happening; I didn’t understand anything at all."
Sfar (46 years old) continued: "I was paralyzed and couldn’t move. I think it was a way to see if I would react or not. I was in shock, like plugging a 220-volt computer into a 550-volt outlet. You become paralyzed."

Sfar added: "We continued our way and arrived at his house late; his daughter was in the room. I slept on the couch bed downstairs. After an hour or two, I woke up to him touching me. Then it quickly escalated from touching to rape."

She didn’t tell anyone for years, went to England, and finally "decided not to have a coach."

Sfar continued, "It took me 25 years to admit that to myself, and then 35 years to say it publicly. I take my hat off to Isabelle Domingo and all the women who spoke out; I understand not speaking out, and we must do it when we feel it."

During de Camaret’s trials, Sfar confirmed that she "fell into a real state of depression."

She added, "Fortunately, my parents and relatives told me, 'You are strong, and you will not allow this to happen.' You can't imagine the harm every time I heard that, the shame I felt. This indirectly confirmed to me how cowardly and weak I was. I lived this throughout the trial.

Sfar, whose career spanned from 1993 to 2008, spoke for the first time about the trauma she experienced to her psychologist, recounting how "I lay on the couch and cried for 48 hours."

She reached the top 100 club of female players in 2001, but "every time I got close to a significant win, I became paralyzed."