Bartoli won Wimbledon in 2013, beating Sabine Lisicki in the final in straight sets. 

But the Frenchwoman was forced to retire just 40 days after taking her first ever Grand Slam title, citing a serious of injuries.

She carved out a career as a successful pundit and media personality but last year suffered a serious illness that saw her lose as much as 20kg.

And after announcing her intention to make a sensational return to professional tennis at the age of 33, she revealed that the decision stemmed from a Wimbledon snub last year.

“If, what happened to me in 2016 hadn’t happened, I don’t think I would have had that strong feeling of wanting to come back to the court,” Bartoli said.

“The start of this all came on the most difficult day of my life, when Wimbledon decided to bar me from playing the legends’ matches because they thought I could have a heart attack and die on the court.

“From then on, I swore that if one day I was healthy again, I wanted to try to relive what I had been lucky enough to live three years before when I won the tournament.

“What saved me at that time was tennis, by hanging onto the great moments that I lived on court — that’s what kept me alive.”

Bartoli has targeted the 2018 Miami Open as her comeback tournament. 

“Mid-March seems realistic with the amount of training to be done,” Bartoli added.

“The day I play my first match will be a huge victory after what I’ve been through, and what I do on the court is just a bonus.

“In terms of tennis, I’m at about 80-90% of my level from Wimbledon 2013 and physically I’m missing about 40 per cent of that level, which at the same time is and isn’t a lot of work.”