PRofessional tennis players are often led to believe that taking leave is fatal. In an individual sport as intense and competitive where the size is determined as fine margins, the pressure to continue to move is eternal. If you are not constantly training, do not compete and do not work on your job, it is said that someone will always be there to take your place. Once you lose your place, you may never recover it.
During the most difficult period of her career, Amanda Anisimova, former teenage prodigy, had to count with this myth. In the depths of his depression, when the intensity of the tennis circuit had become unbearable and her mind shouted for the change, the 23 -year -old woman opted for the solution of a complete sport break two years ago.
“I had done it all my life – crossing everything – because I have never taken a break,” explains Anisimova, calmly telling the last eight years of his life in an agitated and animated restaurant of players during the Madrid open. “I felt like it was just unfair for me to continue to push and push as if I was not a human being.”
At an age when most tennis players still find their feet on the junior circuit seven years ago, a 16 -year -old anisimova arrived on the WTA tour which seems to be fully formed. His backdrops were not only devastating, they were clean and exquisite – his sweet timing, his coordination of a hand and her ability to redirect the rhythm immediately distinguishes her. At only 17, she walked in the Semi-finals of the Open of France 2019 And was not far from winning everything. With hindsight, says Anisimova, she was not old enough to appreciate the meaning of such an achievement. “I was obviously very young and I did not have to face the ups and downs,” she said.
It turned out that the stockings were at the corner of the street. By 2022, the many stressors presented by professional tennis have entered the American player’s psyche. “I was struggling with the lifestyle and I was facing a lot of stress, and it affects me a lot on the ground,” she says. “Especially towards the end of the year. I think that it took a lot of joy that I felt when I came to training or came to tournaments. It really didn’t work for me.”
For months, Anisimova tried to play through her discomfort and it took her a long time to understand that she could no longer continue. Finally, she decided it was time to move away from sport. “I was obviously privileged and capable of taking a break,” she says. “I know that few people are able to take a break in their career or their lives. So, of course, I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to do so. If I wouldn’t be ready to come back, or if my body was not going to be able to manage it, I knew I had to understand something else. But I don’t think
Instead of her daily work in the court, Anisimova took a vacation that she had never considered and spent before with friends and family, from the time she could normally lose. During a semester, Anisimova studied in Florida Nova Southeastern University in person after having previously directed his first cycle diploma – a business in psychology – from a distance. She also resumed painting, which has become a refuge of her own thoughts and she finally chose to give the art she created for charities concerning mental health, hunger and abuse of children.
After months without even taking a racket, at the end of 2023, Anisimova had returned to tennis. She worked slowly to find her physical form game before returning at the beginning of 2024: “I think I refreshed my mind and I took the time I needed,” she said.
In a sport that teaches his subjects never to slow down, Anisimova’s decision to move away from the tour provided a necessary example for other players of similar problems. Anisimova, for his part, appreciates colleagues Like Naomi Osaka Who also drew attention to the importance of prioritizing mental health. She thinks that her generation has a greater range on how to directly solve these problems.
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“I have the impression that it may no longer be such tacit subject, and I think it is very healthy and important for it to be more something that people are comfortable talking and sharing what they feel,” she said. “I feel like the older generation and the girls who probably played in front of us, it was simply not a discussion. Maybe they had to go through much more. In the end, it is not very healthy in the long term, and I think it is very important to be faithful to yourself and what you feel because this is what contributes to happiness. ”
It was perhaps not the objective when she chose to step back, but taking care of her mentally, Anisimova has put new summits on the ground. This year, she took a significant step in her career by winning her first WTA 1000 title in Qatar Open in Doha. While Roland Garros is developing, Anisimova will return to participate in the city which defined the first part of his career, six years after his breakthrough in Paris. Now classified at a career summit of n ° 16, this will mark its first Grand Chelem tournament as a player of the Top 20.
However, Anisimova is more proud of its growth and how it has tackled its many challenges than any result. No achievement on the ground is as important as the lesson in the past two years has taught him to trust his own convictions rather than just following how things have always been done.