Andrey Rublev

July 25, 2019

July 25, 2019 “It was last year when I sadly had a stress fracture in my lower back. It kept me out of competition for three months. It was an incredibly tough time for me which led to some depression. Since the injury was in my back I wasn’t allowed to do anything for the first two months. I had more free time than I ever had and I didn’t know what to do with it all. I missed the sport so much and all I wanted to do was compete. I clearly remember nothing else at the time was making me happy. It truly was one of the toughest moments of my career. I was born to compete and now I couldn’t and that’s where moments of depression came from. I would try to not keep up with any results from tournaments. Any time I did, by accident, it would make me really upset to see other players doing something I couldn’t at the time. I am here at home doing nothing while they are doing their best and improving. I had to continue to wait for the bone to heal to do even a little rehab. I just (more…)

Marcus Daniell

July 14, 2019

July 14, 2019 “Growing up on a farm in rural New Zealand my tennis childhood was a little atypical. Through my early teens I was more interested in surfing and snowboarding than grand slams. I played soccer, nationally, alongside tennis until I was 15. When the NZ soccer federation told me I had to train year-round with them it forced me to choose between tennis or soccer. Tennis won out. I was drawn to its gladiatorial aspect and self-sufficiency. I missed soccer and its team aspect like crazy for years afterwards, and actually had to stop following the premier league because it was making me too sad. I moved away from my country home to a boarding school 8 hours drive away in Auckland City so I could do what I then considered proper tennis training, which in hindsight was very minimal. When I finished school I was consistently one of the top 2 juniors in NZ, had an ATP ranking, and had offers from quite a few universities in USA. Instead of college, I ended up moving to Slovakia to pursue a professional career, aged 17, alone, following a Slovak coach who told me it would be my best (more…)

Andrew Krasny

July 8, 2019

July 8, 2019 “I knew the moment I snuck onto the ‘Tonight Show’ set when I was 12-years old, pulled off the sheet from Johnny Carson’s desk and ‘interviewed’ my late friend Della Barris, I would talk to people for a living and hopefully make them laugh and smile at the same time. To be able to combine that passion with my love for tennis has provided me a dream life for which I am grateful for every single day. I am an announcer, a host on Tennis Channel, an emcee, a husband, a son, brother and a friend. I also suffer from anxiety. I believe being open and honest about having anxiety was my first step towards my recovery. Secrets haunt you. Secondly, understanding I wasn’t alone helped me a great deal. Thank you Mardy Fish. And finally, dedicating myself to living a happy, healthy, drama-free life was what sent me towards my trajectory of success and more importantly, good mental health and harmony. We have to lift the vail and stigma of mental illness in our society. We take Advil for a headache, ice an injury, or pop an antacid in an instant….but for a myriad of reasons, (more…)

Gaby Dabrowski

July 6, 2019

July 6, 2019 “Between 2006 and 2010, I was Canada’s top junior, winning Nationals U14 & U18, and being the 1st Canadian to win Les Petits As and the 2nd to win the U18 Orange Bowl. My skills, talents and success were largely the product of my first ever coach, my dad, and my training at Saddlebrook in Florida. I wasn’t developed by our Federation, Tennis Canada, nor their National Training Centre. In fact, anytime I did try working with their coaches and fitness trainers, I got injured, missed vital tournaments/matches and became borderline anemic due to their negligence. I also had to tolerate inappropriate comments, and was called a liar when I reported the incidences. Further, in my transition year from being a #5 Junior on the ITF rankings to the professional tour, my Federation promised me a “world class coach” to further develop my game, and then reneged on that promise and wouldn’t support or fund me unless I did everything their way. Their way included sharing a Tennis Canada coach with another girl, and not allowing my dad or Saddlebrook or any other training base to be in the picture at all. I couldn’t accept these terms (more…)