Mental health takes center stage when you're not on center court

There is a certain irony when it comes to tennis and the topic of mental health. For those that play it casually, it is often cited as the sport or pastime that can be most beneficial to maintaining balance and mindfulness.

For those that play it professionally, however, the demands are among the most grinding and daunting in professional sports.

This weekend marks the conclusion of tennis’s signature event, the Wimbledon Championships, competed for the 138^th time at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. One of the biggest storylines is whether legends Novak Djokovic can add a remarkable 25^th Grand Slam title to his record total. Djokovic faces defending champion and likely successor as the “best tennis player in the world” Carlos Alcarez in Sunday’s men’s final.

Of course, seeing names like Djokovic and Alcarez on the final day of a major tournament like Wimbledon is no surprise, nor would it be surprising to see them meet again next month in Flushing, N.Y. in the final of the U.S. Open. It’s easy to forget that while those players will compete for the last headline, there are hundreds of stories that ended in quiet defeat over the course of the two weeks.

For his part, Djokovic has been one of the ATP Tour’s leading voices on mental health and mindfulness. He speaks often in interviews about his incorporation of yoga and meditation into his regular training routines as well as other daily activities such as journaling and breathing routines, often surrounding himself with a cadre of health and spiritual advisers.

But again, the view is different from the top of the world rankings, where Djokovic has spent most of his career. What are the mental health challenges of the player outside of the top 200 who is grinding out a living tournament to tournament, often just to keep their place on the Tour? That player is often paying their own way on travel and seeking supplementary sources of income when the tournament winnings aren’t enough.

Austin Krajicek, who recently began using alphabeats as part of his daily routines, has been part of the No. 1 ranked doubles team in the world as recently as June 2023 and captured his first major at the French Open that same year. The current year hasn’t been quite as successful, including an unexpectedly early exit from Wimbledon, but Krajicek will look to rebound when he represents the United States in Paris at the Summer Olympics.

At 34, Krajicek is still relatively young for doubles play, but he acknowledges that the grind of the Tour has pushed many of his contemporaries to burnout.

“We live such a chaotic life living out of a suitcase that it’s pretty difficult to have a normal family life, especially if you have kids and stuff,” Krajicek says. “Last year we won five tournaments and made a few more finals, but we played thirtysomething (tournaments), so you’re still losing 25-26 of the weeks.”

Krajicek thinks technologies like alphabeats are becoming more common on tour, though he points out for all of the technology that has changed the game of tennis on the court, the sport can be slower to adopt new technologies into training, particularly at the youth academies where players learn their craft.

With very little in the way of on-court coaching in tennis, players are often on their own in figuring their way out of challenging situations. One would imagine that having the clearest head possible can only help the cause.