Grand Slam Winner Talks Mental Health and Opens Up About His Struggles and Offers Support to Others
Transcript
Hey, hey, this is Shaun with the GoTennis! Podcast powered by Signature Tennis.
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Speaker:Question because Shaun was bringing this up and it'd be good to get your opinion.
Speaker:The problem at the moment is we're hearing a lot of people talking about mental health
Speaker:at the highest level, right?
Speaker:I mean, curious, Osaka, they're all sharing it.
Speaker:One of my closest friends was John Roddick, who was very close to Marty Fish.
Speaker:So I've heard all about Marty's background as well.
Speaker:Marty's was to me a little different.
Speaker:He had a real long background of it and needed to come out of the woodwork which he didn't
Speaker:until really late and then he had a lot of issues mentally.
Speaker:But there's that storyline right now in the professional level that everyone is struggling
Speaker:mentally.
Speaker:But on the other hand, on the social perspective and society or average player or amateur
Speaker:player, there's all these mental benefits from playing tennis.
Speaker:So there's this clouded gray cloud right now about mental health.
Speaker:But the normal player, the social player that plays every week doesn't get the level of
Speaker:mental health problems because you've just described it beautifully.
Speaker:That since from a little age, all you've known is hitting tennis balls.
Speaker:Most people have all these other things in their life and tennis is helping that stay on
Speaker:track because it gives them a mental release.
Speaker:Whereas for a tennis professional, they don't have anything else.
Speaker:You're going to what you said, the pros are talking about their mental health and it's a job.
Speaker:Like I said, you turn them pro.
Speaker:At some players, turn pro are winning.
Speaker:Wimbledon, Martina Hinges, who I worked with for 10 years, wins Wimbledon at 13.
Speaker:Something else at 15, 8 grand, slams by 18.
Speaker:You got kids.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:They're on the road 52 weeks a year.
Speaker:Now I remember asking Martina.
Speaker:She had no idea that she was on center court Wimbledon, right?
Speaker:She knew she was at Wimbledon at center court but she didn't know the magnitude until she
Speaker:was older.
Speaker:Now a mad, no, she's a rare case.
Speaker:Your general junior player makes a sacrifice in whether they know it or not turns pro at 10
Speaker:or 11.
Speaker:They move from whatever country to Florida for more opportunities.
Speaker:They're in their academy at 10, 11 years old.
Speaker:They've turned pro by, they've got an agent at 11 years old.
Speaker:So my opinion, they're pros.
Speaker:They don't even know it like Martina didn't.
Speaker:They're 17, 18 and they've been sponsored, they've been paid, their family's gone to
Speaker:the house, they're 17, they're on the road and they're not breaking the top 100 and they're
Speaker:the next year of Povah.
Speaker:They're supposed to be, you know, this agency made a bet on this person.
Speaker:Well, back to what you said originally.
Speaker:I would disagree with you that the recreational player doesn't have mental health issues
Speaker:on the court.
Speaker:When I go to a 40 or a 35, men's or ladies league, they're drinking after the match and sometimes
Speaker:during the match, they're self-medicating.
Speaker:The line calls are suspicious and why, why shouldn't matter.
Speaker:It's probably more mentally damaging in the recreational level because why shouldn't
Speaker:matter what level or where you're playing in the lineup if I'm a 35 player.
Speaker:I'm not going to play with her.
Speaker:She's in a singles player.
Speaker:I'm a double star.
Speaker:You are a beginner.
Speaker:Anybody that goes tennis knows exactly that situation happens.
Speaker:My ego has never been my amigo and I'm out here putting in the practice today two hours
Speaker:grinding the old drills cross court two up two back playing.
Speaker:It's bananas and it's so fun to be on for those that are not here.
Speaker:I'm on a couple of rolling girls clay courts at my friend's house in Austin, Texas and I have
Speaker:a love affair with the red clay and especially the rolling girls red clay.
Speaker:It's time I have a moment out here 56 years old.
Speaker:Anyway, it's called the human condition.
Speaker:To lose a match, you're going to sense some form of depression.
Speaker:It might not be chronic or acute, right?
Speaker:But if you lost a match or a point and you lose when some points in a set or two sets or
Speaker:lose some points, there is going to be you can see the body language.
Speaker:Why do we talk about you don't have a positive out of the body language?
Speaker:Well, just double fault it's 12 times in a row.
Speaker:I was supposed to have a good body language.
Speaker:And if you don't believe that there's mental health amongst all the humans, what does the
Speaker:car ride feel like when you win versus how you lose?
Speaker:It's a different vibe, man.
Speaker:It's quiet after a loss.
Speaker:You know what to say?
Speaker:Give them a little space to de-stress or decompress.
Speaker:But when we win, did you say it beforehand?
Speaker:Did you see that drop shot?
Speaker:Did you see that?
Speaker:So, they're at Wimbledon.
Speaker:If you've ever walked on center court, there's the Kipling speech and we treat those two
Speaker:imposter's the same.
Speaker:Try and defend the feet.
Speaker:I want to be a hollow bone.
Speaker:You know where I treat those, winning and losing the same.
Speaker:And if I can come from a safe place of neutrality, safe and protected, where if I win today and
Speaker:get this deal done in business or on the tennis court, it's the best thing that could have
Speaker:happened and if this person says no to this venture or this opportunity that I'm proposing,
Speaker:that's the best thing.
Speaker:And I am able to live this life one.
Speaker:Happy to happy.
Speaker:Moment to moment.
Speaker:Because I can't get to match point before I've played these 48-50 other points.
Speaker:You know, I get it was so cool about tennis.
Speaker:You should give me down 605-0 and win.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It was scary as you can be up 605-0, which I've done at the Orange Bowl back in the day
Speaker:and loose.
Speaker:That's a tough job home.
Speaker:It was the 12th.
Speaker:So we were dealing with a lot of different, you know.
Speaker:So Sean tells me all about this.
Speaker:We connect.
Speaker:What's it all about?
Speaker:We connect is a healthcare technology company.
Speaker:It's a mobile application with support and services around and mental health coaching,
Speaker:around mental health challenges and substance use disorder.
Speaker:And you know, we just came out of January.
Speaker:A lot of people were calling me and saying, I want to do dry January.
Speaker:And well, you know, it's crazy.
Speaker:Because that we're able to stick with it, are saying their work is improving, their tennis
Speaker:game is improving.
Speaker:And now they're at the end of February, now we're in March, I think, or end of February
Speaker:today.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:They're like, holy cow.
Speaker:So whatever, there's the substance use disorder and, you know, I'm someone in long-term
Speaker:recovery from these challenges.
Speaker:After the French open and I had my first panic attack, actually, I...
Speaker:I had been saying that, but the truth is, my first panic attack would happen again,
Speaker:David Wheaton, when I was throwing rackets into the river over the fence and my dad carried
Speaker:me off the court.
Speaker:I had a meltdown and a blowout.
Speaker:And yeah, I am really blessed with the opportunity.
Speaker:I get emotional to be of service to the tennis world and the tennis community.
Speaker:Well, there you have it.
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