Rafael Nadal was recently asked whether he had ever fallen out of love with the sport of tennis in a manner akin to former World No. 1 Andre Agassi.
Successful tennis players are known to be the hardest workers on tour as they tend to compete for the biggest matches and would last more rounds in a single tournament than a lower-ranked player.
Committing to travel in no fewer than four continents in over 30 weeks in a single year takes over a person's life. Even with all the landmark wins, titles, and humongous paychecks, top players are always at risk of burnout because of the time they dedicate to the sport.
For this reason, they stretch their pockets to add a counseling voice that helps them both mentally and physically when it comes to preparation and scheduling. Cases of players struggling with burnout and mental health in their early 20s have been rampant.
Eight-time Grand Slam champion Andre Agassi had a love-hate relationship at one point during his playing career. The American came forward to shed light on his distaste for the game in his autobiography, "Open."
"I have never hated tennis. It would be very ungrateful of me. Tennis has given me many beautiful things, things that I would never have been able to experience without it. I couldn't hate it, but I get tired of having a body that doesn't respond to me the way I would like."
The 37-year-old is attempting to return to the tennis courts at the Indian Wells Masters after withdrawing from the Qatar Open. Nadal suffered a setback at last month's Brisbane International, where he picked up a hip injury that ruled him out from the 2024 Australian Open.
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