WIMBLEDON, England — Naomi Osaka isn’t the first professional tennis player to withdraw from a Grand Slam event due to mental health issues, and she won’t be the last either. Others, though, may not always be as forthright as Osaka.
Current and past players indicated they believe their sport is particularly prone to difficulties like stress, anxiety, and depression in video or phone interviews during Wimbledon, which concludes Sunday, and the French Open, which ended in June.
After all, it’s a mostly alone sport with a nomadic lifestyle, no fixed pay, and continuous thumbs-up-or-thumbs-down (typically the latter) judgements based on results and rankings.
There are no teammates to lean on for support. There are no “load management” days off. In most competitions, players are unable to get in-game coaching.
“If you wake up on the wrong side of the bed, if you don’t feel well, there’s no way to say, ‘Hey, I’m not going to play this game today,’” said Fish, who rose to No. 7 in the rankings, reached three Slam quarterfinals, and won an Olympic silver medal. “And you have to do it all on your own.”
Because of the epidemic, it’s been intensified recently.
“I keep a lot of things to myself, and it may build up into a large snowball over time. And then you just sort of erupting at one point, and you’re like, ‘Whoa.’ ‘Where did you get that?’ But it’s really just a build-up of everything,” Brady, who works with a sports psychologist, explained. “Everyone has a breaking point,” says the narrator.
Osaka, 23, has four Grand Slam championships, is rated No. 1 in the globe, and is the highest-paid female athlete in the world.
“We can adopt safeguards to protect athletes, especially the vulnerable ones,” she said in a Time magazine column, adding, “Each of us, as humans, is going through something on some level.”
Hers isn’t a unique case, and this type of behaviour isn’t restricted to tennis. Olympians Michael Phelps and Gracie Gold, NFL quarterback Dak Prescott, NBA forward Kevin Love, and NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace have all spoken out about their own personal experiences.
The WTA offers an on-site therapist at Wimbledon and other events, allowing players to arrange 30- or 60-minute consultations. Video or phone chats are also available at any time, on any day.
The WTA’s comprehensive wellness programme began in the 1990s and focuses on prevention, education, and service awareness.
“Our athletes use them extensively — even across rankings,” Ahlgren Bedics added. “Which of the following is most likely to utilise it? We have competitors who are new to the tour as well as those who have competed before and are considered veterans.”
Some athletes bring their own mental coach with them on the road. Others converse with one on a regular or irregular basis.
Others say they prefer to speak with someone they know well, such as a coach or personal trainer.
“Since my father’s death, I’ve struggled with anxiety to the point where I couldn’t leave the house. I’d be in the middle of a match, and things would be spiralling out of control. My mother and others begged me to get assistance. I, on the other hand, was the guy who said, “Eh, whatever.” It’s all right. Yada yada yada.’ But I received help,” said Steve Johnson, a 31-year-old Californian who won the NCAA singles title for USC in 2011-12 and is currently ranked 21st. “I see a therapist on a regular basis. It’s not a sign of weakness. Unless you inquire, you have no idea what someone is going through.”
Concerns arise in all walks of life, whether they are personal or professional.
It’s why Iga Swiatek, last year’s French Open winner, travels with a sports psychologist. Barbora Krejcikova, the winner of the French Open this year, required her psychologist to coax her out of a panic episode that made her scared to leave the locker room.
The absence of crowds — they were prohibited at last year’s U.S. Open; Wimbledon only permitted full capacity on several courts in Week 2 — and limits on players’ mobility have made the epidemic particularly difficult, according to Buzarnescu.
Jamie Murray, 35, of Scotland, has won five Grand Slam championships in men’s or mixed doubles and is the older brother of three-time major champion Andy Murray.
Instead of being able to rent individual residences to stay with family or friends during Wimbledon, all players remained in one hotel. Players from the United Kingdom were unable to stay at home. Except for transit to the event venue, no one is allowed to leave the hotel.
Players in Paris were given one hour of free time each day. In February, players at the Australian Open were prohibited from leaving their hotel rooms for two weeks if someone on their trip tested positive for COVID-19.
“Everyone’s life is at a crossroads right now. “You can’t figure in how much this bubble stuff weighs on each person,” said Reilly Opelka, the highest-ranked American male at 23 years old. “It may grow gloomy and frightening when you’re in a foul mood. It is, in fact. It’s terrifying.”