The idea that being a top athlete is a heavenly life, combining a job-passion, stays in dream destinations, luxurious hotels, easy money and caring staff is a cliché that has lived .

There is no shortage of testimonies from athletes to describe the infernal pace to which athletes are subjected, the endless series of competitions, the risk of injury or the constant pressure for results. This has been particularly true since 2022 in the field of padel, especially on the men's circuit since the war between the World Padel Tour et Premier Padel packed the calendar with some 34 competitions which follow one another at a demonic pace.

Worse, in 2023, the WPT intends to organize no less than 27 events – in theory compulsory for players under contract. To these 27 weeks, should be added ten others for the category 1 tournaments of Premier Padel ; and the FIP circuit plans to ramp up, with some 25 events in 2024.

If we count the world championships and other national championships, there is enough to overflow the cup and put any player on the kneecaps.

Sanyo: “We suffer too much”

“We are jeopardizing our sports career”, warned Sanyo Gutiérrez in November , in an exclusive interview he gave to Padel Magazine. “We are suffering too much, and if it continues like this, careers will be shorter, or even serious injuries could happen”, warned the 38-year-old Argentinian.

Sanyo Tapia semi-final victory WPT Valencia Open
Sanyo Gutiérrez warned of the suffering that players are going through

Even much younger players sounded the alarm in 2022. Last July, Martin Di Nenno told us about his mental fatigue : “It becomes difficult, especially when you lose a lot of quarter-finals. Sometimes on Mondays, I don't necessarily want to see Paco, and neither does he, but we still have to train. There are pairs that support the high pace of tournaments better, and we less well. We are very sensitive and transparent, and there are days when we don't want to be together."

A weariness that the 25-year-old Argentinian confirmed to our colleagues from Olé when parting ways with Paquito Navarro in October: "I felt that Paco didn't have the same energy as at times and I hope that changing partners will give him that boost of motivation."

We could still cite Alvaro Cepero, who recently told how he had to relentlessly chain a tournament in Mexico then another in Egypt, with eight hours by plane and six hours by car between the two.

Tennis and mental exhaustion

But padel players don't have the exclusive right to physical exhaustion and mental overheating. Our national Benoît Paire is the living illustration of the fed-up feeling that awaits tennis players. His meltdowns may amuse social networks, but they are above all the sign, rather worrying, of a lurking depression and his way of warding it off.

Australia's Nick Kyrgios is another example of an incredibly talented player, whose raw nerves and friable mind are career-hampers, earning him regular fines and even a sentence to follow psychological care.

Among the ladies, the Japanese Naomi Osaka broke the mental health taboo in 2021. The former world No. 1, who won four titles in the Grand Chelem, tumbled to 42nd place in 2022, before becoming pregnant and giving up tennis in 2023. Another mentally exhausted No.1, Australian Ashleigh Barty, ended her career prematurely last March, only 25 years old.

“Sport, a cognitive challenge”

It is precisely in Australia that research is at the forefront on the question of mental fatigue, reports a Canberra Weekly article. THE Dr. Suzy Russell, a researcher at the Australian Catholic University in Brisbane (ACU), studies mental fatigue and mental recovery in high performance sport. To his eyes, “Sport is by nature a cognitive challenge. Media engagements, work commitments, repetitive tasks, over-analysis, contract negotiations, the impact of travel and unfamiliar environments have been identified as causes of mental fatigue.

One of the consequences highlighted for tennis players, but also for padel or table tennis players, is a decrease in ball speed and longer reaction times, linked to changes in brain activity.

To address this, Dr. Russell's work aims to develop various training methods to develop increased tolerance and resistance to mental fatigue. After the coach, the physical and mental trainers, the numbers 1 of tomorrow will have to resort to neuroscience?

After 40 years of tennis, Jérôme fell into the padel pot in 2018. Since then, he thinks about it every morning while shaving… but never shaves with a pala in hand! A journalist in Alsace, his only ambition is to share his passion with you, whether you speak French, Italian, Spanish or English.

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