Andreas Seppi: «Llegué a retirarme de un partido sin ningún motivo»

Andreas Seppi, ex top 20 mundial y ahora con 36 años en el puesto 88 ATP, confesó este fin de semana al sitio web Behind The Racquet, dirigido por el tenista Noah Rubin, sobre algunos momentos importantes de su carrera y su vida.

El italiano recordó algunos problemas mentales que tuvo a lo largo de su carrera y admitió momentos en los que incluso dejó los partidos sin ningún motivo. “En 2010, incluso llegué a retirarme de un partido sin ningún motivo. Gané el primer set, perdí el segundo en el tie-break, empecé a perder en el tercero y simplemente me rendí. Dije que me dolía la pierna, pero ese no era el problema. Pensé que mi entrenador se iba a volver loco, pero me entendió y me dijo que podía descansar todo lo que quisiera”, señaló.

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“My toughest time was the year after I broke into the Top 100. In 2005, I was 21 years old and had a breakthrough on tour. I started the year as number 140 and four months later, I was in the Top 75. You have higher expectations and put more pressure on yourself. The next year, I struggled to defend the points from the previous year and fell outside the Top 100 for several weeks. This was the only time I left the Top 100 for another 12 years.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ In 2010, I retired from a match because of nothing. I won the first set and lost the second set in a tiebreaker. I was losing in the third set and just retired. I was always a player who liked fighting until the end of a match so to retire out of nothing was really strange for me. During a changeover, I told my coach, "If I lose the next game, I'm done." Then it happened. I just retired. I told the umpire that my leg hurt so I couldn’t play anymore. After the match, I went into the locker room and my coach came in. I thought he would be angry but he was calm and said that he understood the situation. I did not blame that match. I had been on tour for eight years, competing at the highest level with constant adrenaline. I reached a moment where you just can't anymore and need time off. My coach said I could take as much time as I needed. I was surprised he talked to me like that after a match I just tanked.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ I was losing a lot during this time. When you're losing a lot of matches, you want to play even more tournaments because you need to earn points. So you fly everywhere to play, and play, and play. But playing a lot of tournaments during this time was not the right decision for me. Sometimes it is better to stop for a couple of weeks and just practice before going back on tour. It was a mistake to play so many tournaments without taking a break but you learn from mistakes. After this match, I didn't play for four weeks and started over. I immediately had good results and reached the semifinals of two ATP events.”⁣ @andyseppio #BTR⁣ ⁣⁣ Go to behindtheracquet.com for extended stories, podcasts, and merch.⁣

A post shared by Behind The Racquet (@behindtheracquet) on Aug 13, 2020 at 10:01am PDT

Seppi es uno de los jugadores que competirá en el torneo de Cincinnati y en el US Open.