Focus on physical strength and fitness and choice of new coach should be invaluable in her second WTA Tour seasonAs one of the most unexpected recent breakout seasons came to an end in November, Emma Raducanu seemed to have built a solid base for the new year. After the grand slam success, the first round of new endorsements, the questions over her coaching choices and the predictable dip in form as her life changed for ever, Raducanu closed off her year by hiring an experienced, well-regarded coach, Torben Beltz, to guide her through her next steps of her young career.With the off-season beckoning, Raducanu frequently spoke about her goal of improving her physical strength and fitness in order to address...
As the Qatar World Cup nears, football can learn a lesson from tennis: turning down money will make your voice heardSport is politics. There is no question about that at the beginning of the year when the Winter Olympics are taking place in Beijing and the World Cup in Qatar. You only have to open the newspaper these days. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the Guardian, the Polish Gazeta Wyborcza and other quality media, which gather many voices to report on the world, deal on their sports pages with the diplomatic boycott of the Olympics by the USA, Great Britain and other countries, the “quiet diplomacy” of the International Olympic Committee and workers’ rights in Qatar.One news item received particular attention...
As an athlete who spoke up about abuse, I am tired of seeing reputation being prioritised over safetyWhen I first experienced abuse as an athlete, I made a vow to myself to never tell anyone. Ever. I was worried that I wouldn’t be believed, but also the thought that anyone would know me as a “victim” mortified me. On top of that, I knew that even if I told anyone, nothing would change. I was both right and wrong. Years later, after I stopped competing in figure skating, I broke my own silence on the physical abuse inflicted on me in China, and it freed me. I talked about it to my close friends, to reporters, and to my therapist...
The former world No 4 made the most of her talents and helped to pave the way for Emma Raducanu and hopefully othersAs the 2015 tennis season began six years ago, Johanna Konta’s name was nowhere to be seen on any main-draw sheet. Six months earlier she had briefly reached the top 100 for the first time in her career but, as had been the case throughout her career in those days, she always ended up dropping back down the rankings and having to grind through the ITF Pro Circuit and qualifying events once more. Konta quietly lost in the first qualifying round of the Australian Open.Even as she struggled mentally and failed to achieve her lofty goals, Konta always...
Victory in WTP Finals in Mexico puts Spaniard on course for the majors next yearSeven years ago, as Garbiñe Muguruza moved up the rankings and into full view, she already knew she had one of the decisions of her life ahead of her. Muguruza had grown up on the courts of Caracas, Venezuela, where she was born to her Venezuelan mother and Basque father, and where she stayed until she was six before moving to Barcelona.At 21 years old, and with pressure from both sides as her career flourished, she finally decided which country she would represent, a process she described as “really difficult, thoughtful and delicate.” After choosing Spain, however, she made the intensity of her feelings for both...