At Wimbledon, a player's lament about loneliness revives a conversation about mental health
In the time since, more and more players have spoken about the topic and seeking help, and whatever taboos there were seem to have faded. Still, the way three-time Grand Slam finalist Alexander Zverev discussed his state of mind after a first-round exit at Wimbledon this week revived the conversation.
'I feel very alone out there at times. I struggle mentally. ... I'm trying to find ways to kind of get out of this hole. I keep kind of finding myself back in it in a way,' said Zverev, who was the runner-up at the Australian Open in January but then went through a rough stretch of results this season when he had a chance to overtake Jannik Sinner at No. 1 in the rankings.
Alexander Zverev says at Wimbledon he feels 'quite alone in life'
'I feel, generally speaking, quite alone in life at the moment, which is a feeling that is not very nice,' Zverev said. 'It's not a feeling on a tennis court, it's just a life feeling in general.'
Players at the All England Club were asked Wednesday about Zverev's words.
They could empathize, some said.
Others offered advice.
Amanda Anisimova was a French Open semifinalist as a teen in 2019, then announced two years ago she was taking time off because of burnout. She's been back for a while now and reached the third round at Wimbledon with a victory Wednesday.
'It's definitely tricky. Each and every one of us goes through something at some point in our lives. We have our bouts of negative times. It honestly takes some self-reflecting, figuring out what's going wrong or how can I create a lifestyle that I enjoy. I feel like there are so many factors. For me, personally, it was finding people that I could confide in and I trusted. People that I could talk to,' Anisimova said.
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