Tennis is a lot more than what we see during tournament matches. In her latest Instagram post, France’s Alize Lim showed us the real everyday struggles players face. Let me warn you, photo No.2 is really disturbing!
1. Taping your torn abs until they look like that;
2. Running side to side until your feet look like that;
3. Carrying 40 kilos of bags from airport to airport every week;
4. Finding a way to do fitness at all costs: from windy Sardinia, to running with ducks in Pennsylvania, til actually losing it in Perth’s gym;
5. Drowning your sorrow after a lost match in a new box of cereal every week;
6. Driving yourself crazy with dieting to the point of bringing your mini scale everywhere with you, to make sure you can blame yourself enough if you ever gain 100 grams (What else would we have control over?);
7. Drills and more drills even right after matches! In Arizona;
8. Stressing out like your whole life depends on it while waiting for the Roland Garros wildcards announcement in the physio room!;
9. Getting off the court after a 3:30 hour fight in 38 degrees and 90% humidity in South Carolina;
10. Having different people touching your legs every week: iced in Strasbourg, stretched in Sardinia, massaged in Brazil.
Definitely the most challenging, but yet the most intense and lively way of spending the past 10 years ❤️❤️❤️ Numbers will fade away, memories will stay.
The next time you watch a tennis match, recall these behind-the-scenes struggles. It would be great if more players would post their daily challenges in a series of photos and videos. More people would appreciate and understand everything that being a tennis player involves.
I agree with you Marija : More people should see this and realize/remember that behind all the trophies, money, glitz and glamour, tennis life is tough and takes some really hard work!!! I have even more respect and admiration for tennis players now!
My message to Alize Lim is she should really work harder so she can win more matches instead of showing off in social media. I mean you are entering your 30 and you still havent accomplished alot in singles or doubles.
This post really make her sounds like a complainer.
I mean I get it, its tough competition, its hard, but how do you think players like Sharapova or Williams earned their success, by working hard and have that concentration and focus.
She already have the privilege of clothing sponsor from Le Coq Sportif, many other players have better success than her but no sponsorship at all.
Player like Alize Lim is really what turned people off.
Ric, I didn’t get the impression that she’s a complainer. Actually, in the end of her post she said that all the hardships are worth it. I’d like more players to show us their daily struggles of similar kind. It would make a wider tennis public appreciate their efforts even more.
@Ric That’s not a complain. It’s just a dose of reality. Training hard is a prerequisite to be good tennis players but natural talents will elevate athletes from good to great.
Ric? You sound like a clueless envious prat if I’m honest.