Andreas Seppi has been one of the most common tennis players on the ATP circuit for the last decade and a half. The Italian tennis player has been to all the Grand Slam uninterrupted since 2006, although he has never made it past the fourth round in any of the big four tournaments.
Now, at 36 years old, the Bolzano has related in an open letter to Behind The Racquet his worst moments on the slopes, and has told how the nerves have been with him more than once. “My worst moment in tennis was the year I placed in the top 100 in the world. In 2005, with only 21 years, I had my first big hit. In four months I went from number 140 to top 75. I had higher expectations and put more pressure on my shoulders. The following year, I suffered a lot to defend the points of the previous year and I was not in the top 100 for several weeksThe only time it happened in the next 12 years, “Seppi began.
See this post on Instagram
“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.
“In 2010, I withdrew from a match for no reason. I won the first set and lost the second in the tiebreaker. I was losing the third and quit. I've always liked fighting to the end, so withdrawing from the game for no reason was strange. In a change, I told my coach that if I lost the next game, it was over. I lost it and retired. I told the chair umpire that my leg hurt, that I couldn't take it anymore. I got to the locker room and my coach came in. I thought he would be angry, but he told me he understood. I don't feel guilty for that game. He had been on the circuit for eight years, competing at the highest level. I got to a point where I just couldn't take it anymore, I needed to rest. My coach told me to rest as long as I needed. It was strange to me that he spoke to me that way after a game in which he had let me lose “continues a sincere Andreas.
“I lost a lot of games at that time. When you lose so much, you want to play more tournaments because you need to get ranking points. You travel everywhere to play. Playing so many tournaments at that time was not the right decision. Sometimes it is better to stop for a couple of weeks and train. Playing so many tournaments in a row without taking a break was a mistake, but you always learn from mistakes. After that game, I stopped for four weeks and started again. I immediately started to reap good results and reached the semifinals of two ATP tournaments “, sentenced the Italian.