Costa Rica, Mexico, South Africa, India and the last few days France for the European Championship. Just some countries where Tessa ter Sluis played a tournament this year. The 30-year-old squash pro from Sint Willebrord is traveling around the world, but it turns out that it is a major challenge. “It is not the luxurious life that people often think.” Yet in the coming years she wants to continue with the Olympic Games in 2028 as a big goal.
Life as a squash pro is not a fat pot. At tournaments she earns prize money, but it is not enough to make ends meet. “In addition, I give squash lesson to make money. I stopped with my work at the Squash Bond Nederland so that I can focus even more on the sport. The better I do it on tournaments, the more money comes in. But you can’t compare the amounts with tennis, for example.”
For her sport she has been in many places in the world. “I am curious what will be planned for the coming season. I will see if it is good for me to play there.”
“On every trip I look at the cheapest options.”
Traveling is a big cost item. “With my passion I can cross the world and I meet a lot of new people. But I have to arrange and pay for everything myself, although with the help of sponsors I can pay for most flights. With every trip I look at the cheapest options. By, for example, taking a stopover somewhere or sharing a room with others at the location itself.”
The last few days were dominated by the European Championship individual in France where she became twentieth. She was broadcast by the Netherlands, but here too she had to pay the trip herself. “For me it was especially important to see how I was in the European field after the summer. I trained for many hours on and outside the track twice a day.”
Tessa has long been full this life because of her love for the sport. That love started early. Her mother took Tessa and her brother, who later also became a professional, to the track. At the age of 8 she already participated in tournaments.
“Partly due to injuries it has been tough mentally.”
In 2017 she took her first Dutch title among the seniors, a year later she chose the sport after completing her studies. This year her second gold medal followed at an NK. “I think Squash is fantastic to do, it is my life. Partly due to injuries it has been mentally tough. I have always kept the feeling that it would fall my way. That was this year, although I was not injured. I started to love competitions again.”
At the age of 30 she has already experienced a lot in top sport. For the next three years she certainly hopes to be active at the highest level. “Squash is an Olympic sport in 2028. It is my most important goal to be there in Los Angeles. I realize that it will be enormously spicy, but I will do everything about it. I still see improvement and that is motivating. I am now 117th on the world ranking, but I have the confidence that I can get to the best 30.”
A competition at the European Championships for Land Teams in 2023.
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