“There are now studies from the population of competitive athletes who show that depressive moods occur as often as in normal population,” reports Sulprizio. Sports, success and a lot of money did not protect mental difficulties. “Top athletes have similar risks as top managers: permanent pressure to succeed and public visibility and evaluability by media, social media and hate comments.” It is a very individual thing and depends on the vulnerability of the individual. “As a top athlete you need a big fur,” says the sports psychologist, who referred to the many secondary locations of Zverev in recent years: a mud fight with the ex-manager, several unsightly public separations of coaches, public criticism of his misconduct during Corona, major media reports of alleged allegations of domestic violence that led to years before they led to an ATP process Legally in a legal proceedings with the opposite party without judgment.
In any case, Zverev has often been annoyed by situations around his person in the media in the past. “This constant evaluability and fast media world can be very stressful,” says the expert. Zverev said: “I have gone through many difficulties in the media. I generally have gone through many difficulties in life. I’ve never felt so empty. I just lack the joy of everything I do. It is not necessarily about tennis. I also lack joy outside of tennis.” Zverev, who repeatedly spoke out publicly against mental coaches and psychologists in the past, also opened for possible help in Wimbledon for the first time. “Yes, possible. Maybe for the first time in my life I need that.”
The brother’s words that the statements had to do with the defeat are also part of the truth. “In such an affective moment after a defeat, such statements can also be bubbled out of an athlete and against this background,” explains the psychologist, the Zverev’s willingness to be open to help for the first time, as a good signal. “The more people open, the less this topic in the corner of the taboos. And that in turn is good for funding. So you can better draw attention to the topic and recognize earlier when warning signs are available. We are not yet so far and liberal. Mental problems are often still a sign of weaknesses.”
For Zverev, the general stress accumulation in profit tennis is added. “Zverev generally has little time to recover from headlines and tournaments,” said Sulprizio. “Then the next impact follows. The stress trigger is piling up and going over in constant stress. You can imagine that like a barrel. The last drop makes the barrel overflow. At that point he was probably on Tuesday and said: ‘Now, now I talk about mental problems.'” According to Sulprizio, Zverev’s class may have been different after a night of sleep. “Which does not mean that you no longer feel these symptoms. But opening would probably no longer happen because he could have already classified the situation with his team and could have been relativized.”