Tennis is among the richest sports in the world. It comes up with lucrative prize money and big-figure sponsorship deals. But with so much at stake comes additional pressure. The pressure to perform and outclass the opponents and seal the deal. Several psychologists say that tennis is one of the loneliest and most emotionally challenging sports in the world. The 38-year-old former ATP star, Marcos Baghdatis, reflects on how events like the Davis Cup help combat some of the loneliness and isolation players face during the tour.

Every sport in the world is demanding in its own way. But when we talk about mental toughness in sports, nothing beats the racket sport. It’s not only a physical sport which tests the fitness levels of the players but also their character to hold their emotions throughout a longer span. Talking about longer spans, well, there are already complaints coming in for the intense schedule in the 2024 season. But before we head to the next season, let’s focus on Davis Cup-‘The World Cup of Tennis’. 

The need for events like Davis Cup in a calendar year

Tennis is an individual sport which attracts more pressure compared to other sports. Except for Davis Cup, Fed Cup and a few other instances, players have to deal with the pressure of playing a match alone. And Baghdatis agrees with this aspect. Reflecting on how events like Davis Cup helped him combat some of the loneliness and isolation during the tours, he said, during his interview with the PTPA,

“Tennis is a very tough sport. In tennis you’re alone. You’ve your own team. You spend a lot of time alone in the hotel room. Travelling every 5 days, you get your bags and you start travelling to another event. Like when you get injured, you know, you’ve to take care of yourself and you’ve to find ways to be happy. I mean, I went through it. 90-95% of the players went through depression at one moment of their career. So it’s a very, very lonely and difficult sport that I think maybe, you know if maybe in some weeks of the year you can have an event where you can go and play with friends. Maybe it’ll boost you up a bit, you know. That’s what happened when I represented Cyprus when I played Davis Cup. It boosted me up for the next one or two months”.

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He further added, “And you know if you’re that more often, maybe it can give you a bit more. You know the mental health side and physical side you know, to give you a bit of a boost.“

Several players have also been vocal quite recently about the solitude and struggles of life on the tour.

Mental health struggles in tennis aren’t a new topic

Naomi Osaka & Nick Kyrgios have been quite vocal about the pitfalls of life for the players on tour. Even the 8 Grand Slam titles holder, Andre Agassi, has talked about the difficulties faced by the tennis players in their career. He raised concern over loneliness and its impact on mental health in his autobiography.

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Recently, the world number 1 in women’s singles Iga Swiatek also raised her concern over the increase in mandatory tournaments. She feels an intense schedule will not only take a toll on players’ bodies but also impact their mental health and well-being. 2024 is an Olympic year as well and the players will be pushing their bodies more than anyother season.

Do you think player health, both physical and mental, should come before conducting lucrative tournaments?

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