Mental problems Help for players

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

RE: Mental problems Help for players

sherbert · Lower Club Player

It didn't go down very well at all! I can't speak about the support for other players, as I don't know. But to be honest - it's never been an issue for Neil.

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

sherbert wrote:
It didn't go down very well at all! I can't speak about the support for other players, as I don't know. But to be honest - it's never been an issue for Neil.

Do you mean, living without his X-Box ? wink

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

There's an interesting article about Frederico Gil and his battle with Bipolar disorder:

www.ubitennis.com/eng/blog/2015/10/08/exclusive-mental-illness-on-the-main-stage-of-tennis-frederico-gils-story/

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

This is a very 'raw' piece by Gail Emms MBE, our Olympic silver medalist in Badminton, about the acute problems of finding a career/a life/a role after quitting professional sport and the significant mental health toll it takes.

www.themixedzone.co.uk/im-ashamed-admit-im-struggling/

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

And equally well done to Tennis Australia.

Tomic might be a bit of a pr*t but well done to their federation for reaching out to him, and having set up a tennis well-being programme, and realising that not all young players are squeaky clean, preppy and that they are dealing with a lot of pressures at a young age.

au.sports.yahoo.com/tennis/a/36476417/tennis-australia-reaches-out-to-help-bernard-tomic/

Oakland2002 · All-time great

Ummm, definitely a wise move by tennis Australia. Tomic is just growing up and because of his status as a tennis player has each mistake publicised. I can't see it making too much difference until Tomorrow's c is fully engaged. Which may be never.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

I know this thread is in the men's section (maybe it could be moved to general???) but mental health issues are so important and it's great to see Madison Keys being so open about her problems:

From her instagram:

When I was fifteen, I had an eating disorder. There were people in my life and others who would see me on tv, that would tell me I was fat, or needed to lose a few pounds. Eventually, that truly got into my head. I was living off three, 100 calorie bars a day. I struggled with this problem for almost two years, which led to some issues with depression. I completely shut my friends and mom out of my life. I felt like I put this mask on to get through each day, hoping no one would ask how or what I was doing. I became super paranoid because I wanted to keep it all a secret and didnt want anyone to worry. It took until one day when I realized what I was doing, I was hurting my tennis. I couldnt get through a week of practice because I had nothing in my body. I let other people change how I felt about myself and that hurt the dream Ive been working towards since I was four years old. I decided that I needed to get control of my eating. It took some time to get myself to open up to people again. Its something I still struggle with when I get stressed or upset, but I have a much healthier relationship with food now.

Michael D · All-time great

It's brave of Madison to talk about this... and good luck to her in being able to continue her career in a balanced way. It is a shock sometimes to realise that even successful sportswomen like her can really be negatively affected by people being thoughtless and stupid. Social media has of course exacerbated this, and is one of the major reasons why young people today are so much more affected by mental health issues than before.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

According to the British Journal of Sports Medicine (or, at least, a Daily Mail report of it), one in three elite sports persons has mental health issues but will not be public about it because of fears of alienating sponsors:

www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-7036995/One-three-professional-sports-stars-Olympians-hide-mental-health-problems.html

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

An excellent report by The Telegraph into what Noah Rubin is doing to try and highlight the mental health problems, alcohol problems and substance abuse problems that, he says, are rife in tennis and for good reason.

www.telegraph.co.uk/tennis/2019/08/19/noah-rubin-interview-dont-know-people-realise-alcohol-substance/

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

From Andy Lapthorne, and the problems that he's been having this season.

Wishing you all the best, Andy.

twitter.com/lapstar11/status/1318629849322356736/photo/1

twitter.com/lapstar11

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Others may have followed her better than me but there are moving articles about Martina Trevisan, who has just made the semis at Roland Garros.

She had to take about 4 years completely away from the sport, suffering from anorexia. Her father was diagnosed with a nasty degenerative disease when she was a teenager, which - the articles imply - was one of the causes/factors leading to the problems she was having.

Her run at Roland Garros (and still counting) is an amazing achievement for someone who didn't play for so long, who had lost all interest in life, who barely ate..... Bravo to her

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

www.news.com.au/sport/tennis/i-almost-jumped-jelena-dokics-heartbreaking-suicide-reveal/news-story/7d512206024c9fd7166da72c78dbb87d

Very raw and personal post from Jelena Dokic and her issues

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Just to note how good it is to see Lucas Pouille back and looking health and in a good place (and winning too, although that's not the most important)

He's had a lot of demons to contend with, with injuries, then alcohol problems and mental illness.

His wife was just in floods of tears when he won in qualifying.