That empty feeling: Why are so many tennis stars losing their joy
To her inner self for the last couple of years, the minister was feeling the vacuum of the very term that defined her. 'Deep down, I haven't truly felt happy on the court for some time now,' she said.
And so, at 30, the three-time Grand Slam finalist on Thursday announced that she was giving her sport — and her ministry — a pause.
It's not just Jabeur, several top faces in tennis have spoken up about the lack of joy they experience while giving people the thrill of aces and winners. It's not just tennis, several voices across sports are increasingly bringing up a question that world No.1 golfer Scottie Scheffler asked ahead of the ongoing Open Championship: 'What's the point?'
The point reverberating over the course of this Wimbledon edition was just how many and how unhappy tennis' most glowing stars are. That its women's singles trophy was held by a player who returned after a break from the sport to prioritise her mental health was almost symbolic.
Alexander Zverev, the men's world No.3, accepted after his first-round defeat that he might need help dealing with 'lacking the joy' on and off the court. 'I've never felt this empty before,' the German, 28, said.
Madison Keys, the reigning Australian Open champion, said she did seek help in the past. World No.10 Andrey Rublev has spoken about feeling 'like you are dying' when things don't live up to expectations on court.
For many, that feeling is intertwined with form and fitness. Jabeur, the 2022 and 2023 runner-up at Wimbledon, has been battling a dip in physical peak, results and rankings after coming closest to fulfilling her lifelong dream. Zverev, touted for major success, has seen two younger players taste Slam glory before him.
In this unforgiving modern world of heightened scrutiny and social media verdicts, a barren phase can further deepen the emptiness that Zverev speaks of. Virat Kohli felt it too. Speaking on RCB's podcast this year, he spoke about being 'exposed' to the attention of his captaincy and batting '24x7' and choosing to step away from the former 'to be happy'.
'Our identity becomes wrapped up in being a tennis player from a very young age,' Keys told Wimbledon. 'When you have tough weeks, months, years on tour, it can really take a toll on how you think about yourself.'
But even if you don't have those tough weeks, months and years, that feeling can follow.
Ask Scheffler, whose movingly forthright monologue in Portrush touched a nerve and questioned whether what he does is truly 'fulfilling'. 'Why do I want to win The Open so badly? I don't know. Because if I win, it's going to be awesome for two minutes. Then we will get on to the next week,' he said.
Ask Ash Barty, the former world No.1 in tennis who retired at 25 as a three-time Slam champion because the entire process started to make her feel 'robotic'.
'We set our sights on a summit and, step by step, we trudge towards that peak... But what do we do when we reach the pinnacle... Do we stop, sit, enjoy the view and breathe? No. In sport, we simply return to base camp,' the Australian wrote in her autobiography.
That's the other binding factor to this bereft of joy feeling. The cycle of tournaments and competitions seldom stops across sports, giving little time to those that actually drive it to catch a breath.
An April 2025 report by FIFPRO and Football Benchmark reflected how overworked elite footballers that competed in the recently concluded Club World Cup were. Casper Ruud, a three-time Slam finalist like Jabeur, likened playing professional tennis to 'running in a hamster wheel' that just wouldn't stop.
Novak Djokovic, who's won 24 Slams running in that wheel, reckoned Zverev's feeling of emptiness was probably due to being 'overwhelmed with so many tournaments'. How does he know?
'I understand exactly what he's going through because I've been through that many times, where you feel empty or less joy or less happiness playing,' Djokovic said, acknowledging this wasn't a subject that was much talked about in tennis before.
More and more players now are bringing up the feeling of 'less joy'. More and more are wondering whether they can find it again.
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