.png)
72. GRATEFUL
When I started this series of blogs I had no idea if anyone would read them or if there would be any interest in the ramblings of a ‘more mature’ tennis parent, recounting her experiences of travelling on the tennis tour with a player. But I was wrong and the blogs have now had almost 9,000 views and I am extremely grateful for every single one of them.
Writing the blogs has been quite cathartic for me. Travelling with a player can indeed be stressful and the blogs are my own form of therapy! If they also entertain, enlighten and educate then that is a bonus.
There are over 70 blogs now for you to read and refer to and hopefully, combined, they will give you an insight into what it is really like on the tennis tour for the majority of players. It is certainly not all first class travel, nice hotels and sunny climes. Such conditions are far from the reality and are things that most players dream about!
As Amanda Anisimova recently said:
“I think alot of people who follow us on social media or watch tennis casually, they really don’t understand it fully. I don’t think anyone does unless you are in it, just how overwhelming and difficult it can be. You lose in a tournament and then you have to buy tickets and pack your all your stuff and fly the next day and you’re so exhausted from your match and upset. It’s always like that, it’s a constant cycle. It can be very draining and isolating.”
And that’s from a former world number 21 player who has experienced the more ‘comfortable’ end of the tennis tour – spare a thought for the more lowly ranked players, who have to worry, week in week out, about how they are going to afford the next flight, train ticket, tournament etc.
Reality Tennis, through its blogs, is trying to give a picture of what life is really like on the tour (the good, the bad and the reality) as opposed to an idealistic or notional idea gleaned from the media. All of the blogs are based upon first hand experience of the tour and how daily life really is when a player is travelling the world trying to make a living playing tennis. This is no ‘Break Point’ – this is the truth; the real life.
There are more blogs to come so please keep reading and supporting and if you have any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to get in touch. All the very best for 2024 and thank you again for reading.
******************************************************
If you have enjoyed this blog, please follow, share and read more at:
and subscribe to receive e mail notification of upcoming blogs as they are released. Follow also at:
Twitter: @realitytennis
Instagram: realitytennis
If you have similar stories to share, please feel free to e mail the author at:
Comments