Latest news with #break
The Guardian
22-05-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
‘I struggled with the lifestyle': former teen prodigy Amanda Anisimova on her career-saving break
Professional tennis players are often led to believe that taking time off is fatal. In such an intense, competitive individual sport where greatness is determined though fine margins, the pressure to keep on moving is eternal. If you are not constantly training, competing and working on your craft, it is said, someone will always be there to take your place. Once you lose your spot, you may never get it back. During the most difficult period of her career, Amanda Anisimova, a former teen prodigy, had to reckon with that myth. In the depths of her depression, when the intensity of the tennis circuit had become unbearable and her mind was screaming out for change, the 23-year-old opted for the solution of a complete break from the sport two years ago. 'I had done that my whole life – pushing through everything – because I never took any breaks,' says Anisimova, calmly narrating the past eight years of her life in a hectic, bustling players' restaurant during the Madrid Open. 'I felt like it was just unfair for me to just keep pushing and pushing as if I'm not a human being.' At an age when most tennis players are still finding their feet on the junior circuit, seven years ago a 16-year-old Anisimova arrived on the WTA tour seemingly fully formed. Her groundstrokes were not only devastating, they were clean and exquisite – her sweet timing, hand-eye coordination and effortless ability to redirect pace immediately set her apart. At just 17, she marched into the semi-finals of the 2019 French Open and was not far from winning it all. In hindsight, Anisimova says, she was not old enough to appreciate the significance of such an achievement: 'I was obviously very young, and I didn't have to deal with the highs and lows of the sport so much,' she says. The lows, it turned out, were around the corner. By 2022, the many stressors presented by professional tennis had penetrated the American player's psyche: 'I was just struggling with the lifestyle and just dealing with a lot of stress from it, and it was affecting me a lot on the court,' she says. 'Especially towards the end of the year. I think it was taking away from a lot of the joy that I was feeling when I came to training or came to tournaments. It just really wasn't working for me.' For months, Anisimova tried to play through her discomfort and it took a long time for her to understand that she could no longer continue. Finally, she decided that it was time to step away from the sport: 'I was obviously privileged and able to take a break,' she says. 'I know not many people are able to take a break from their career or their life. So, of course, I'm very grateful that I had the opportunity to do that. If I wasn't going to be ready to come back, or if my body wasn't going to be able to handle it, I knew that I would have to figure out something else to do. But I don't think pushing through it was an option for me at that point.' In lieu of her daily work on-court, Anisimova took holidays she had never previously considered and spent time with friends and family, time she normally would not be able to spare. For a semester, Anisimova studied at Florida's Nova Southeastern University in person after previously conducting her undergraduate degree – business with psychology – remotely. She also took up painting, which became a refuge from her own thoughts and she eventually chose to donate the art she created to charitable causes addressing mental health, hunger and child abuse. After months without even picking up a racket, by the end of 2023 Anisimova had found her way back to tennis. She slowly worked to regain her match fitness before returning at the beginning of 2024: 'I think that I refreshed my mind and I took the time that I needed,' she says. In a sport that teaches its subjects to never slow down, Anisimova's decision to step away from the tour has provided a necessary example for other players with similar issues. Anisimova, for her part, is appreciative of colleagues such as Naomi Osaka who have also drawn attention to the importance of prioritising mental health. She believes that her generation has a greater grasp on how to directly tackle these issues. Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion 'I feel like maybe it's not such an unspoken topic any more, and I think that's very healthy and important for it to be more of something that people are comfortable talking about and sharing how they feel,' she says. 'I feel like the older generation and the girls who probably played before us, it just wasn't a discussion. Maybe they had to push through a lot more things. At the end of the day, it's not very healthy long-term, and I think it's very important being true to yourself and how you feel because that's what contributes to happiness.' This may not have been the goal when she opted to step back, but by taking care of herself mentally, Anisimova has scaled new heights on the court. This year, she took a significant step forward in her career by winning her first WTA 1000 title at the Qatar Open in Doha. As Roland Garros shifts into focus, Anisimova will return to compete in the city that defined the first part of her career, six years on from her breakthrough run in Paris. Now ranked at a career high of No 16, this will mark her first grand slam tournament as a top 20 player. Still, Anisimova is more proud of her growth, and how she has navigated her numerous challenges, than any result. No on-court achievement is as significant as the lesson the past two years have taught her to trust her own convictions rather than simply following how things have always been done.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Takahisa Masuda takes short break due to face swelling
19 May - NEWS member Takahisa Masuda recently announced that he is taking a break from work due to health issues. Sharing the news on 18 May, the singer expressed, "I sincerely apologise for the trouble and inconvenience I have caused to many people involved in my work." "I will take my time to recover properly. And please let me return as a super fun idol again!!!!!" he added. Earlier, his agency Starto Entertainment announced on its official website that Masuda had been experiencing facial pain and swelling. "When he had a medical checkup, the doctor instructed him to remain hospitalised for about a week for treatment, and so he will be suspending all activities for a certain period of time," the company explained. (Photo Source: Takahisa Masuda IG)
The Guardian
18-05-2025
- General
- The Guardian
A 14-step guide to taking a (fleeting) break from social media
Step one: Write a post to inform everyone that you're taking a break from social media. Phrase it so they know you're doing something extremely worthy. Also say something scathing about Meta, so they feel guilty on multiple levels for remaining. Step two: Stay on social media a little longer to respond to the people who respond to your post about quitting social media. Step three: OK, now you're really quitting social media. What counts as social media, though? Surely LinkedIn isn't social media, it's too boring. Spend a few hours scrolling LinkedIn. Decide you don't need a business optimisation course or a tutorial on how to set up a job alert. Also, why do people send messages on LinkedIn to thank you for connecting with them on LinkedIn? They literally invited you to connect in the first place. Decide that not only is LinkedIn dead, your LinkedIn inbox is a coffin. Step four: Spend a moment feeling nostalgic for the days when the spam messages in your social media inboxes were from square-jawed men in military or medical uniforms who were obviously bots. Step five: Look at your to-do list. Sigh. Do your taxes. Text six people to tell them you just did your taxes. No replies. Consider rebooting social media for satisfactory responses. Remember that you told everyone you were taking a break. Step six: Clean the refrigerator. Step seven: Respond to emails that have been lingering for months in your inbox. Step eight: Go for a walk. Take a photograph of the beautiful sunset. Resist urge to post it. Instead send the sunset photo to seven different WhatsApp groups. Have a momentary existential crisis while considering whether WhatsApp is social media. Decide that you would never know what was going on at your children's school or sporting groups without it. Keep WhatsApp. Step nine: Sleep the superior sleep of someone who is not on social media. Have dreams unvisited by random high school acquaintances and great-aunts with a penchant for doll collecting. Wake in a cold sweat with the realisation that you have no idea what is going on in anyone's life. Step 10: Meditate instead of scrolling. Ha, just kidding. Doomscroll on news sites and gnash your teeth at the actual state of the world instead of the state of the teeth of your friend's 15-year-old son who just got his braces off. Read a news article about tariffs. Put your phone down. Step 11: Pick it up again. Is Goodreads social media? Rate the last 12 books you've read on Goodreads and go down a rabbit hole of analysing the reading habits of all your friends on Goodreads. Wonder how much of these lists are performative. Is it even possible to read Ulysses and Finnegans Wake in the same week? Decide that Goodreads is also social media and delete. Step 12: Go for a run. Download the stats from your smartwatch for your run. Send to your running WhatsApp group and your mother instead of posting on social media. Your mother: 'Are you OK? Why are you sending me your heart rate?' 'I just wanted to share my run this morning.' 'OK. Why are you suddenly texting me so much? Did you see the photos from your cousin's wedding on Facebook?' Step 13: Reinstall social media just long enough to look at wedding photos. You can't like them because then people would know you've broken your break. Delete again. Step 14: So many hours in a day! Write an article about quitting social media. Go back on social media to share the article you wrote in those 24 hours when you were actually productive because you took a break from social media. Eleanor Limprecht is the author of What Was Left, Long Bay, The Passengers and The Coast. Her next novel, Cul de Sac, will be published in 2026 by Ultimo Press
