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Editor’s notice: This text was translated from ATPTour.com/es.
Life after tennis is just not one thing that worries Thomaz Bellucci, who performed his final ATP Tour match on Wednesday on the Rio Open offered by Claro. Nevertheless, the readability he now feels over his future is in stark distinction to the priority he felt at 16 and 17 years outdated, when he was near an early retirement from the skilled sport. A left-knee damage sidelined him for nearly a yr and he was near by no means coming again.
Again then, when he was a mere blip on the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, it took him six months to recuperate from surgical procedure, adopted by an extended interval of uncertainty. He began to learn books on economic system and thought of dedicating his time to his research.
“I used to be in a variety of doubt,” Bellucci recalled to ATPTour.com. “I didn’t know if the very best factor was to proceed in tennis. I wished to have enjoyable doing different issues.”
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Any ideas of one other vocation clashed with two robust forces in his life: the love of a sport that he discovered on the age of three, enjoying together with his mother and father in Tiete, Sao Paulo; and the dream of changing into an expert tennis participant. It was a dream that, by the way, was born within the 90s as he watched his countryman Gustavo Kuerten, former World No. 1 within the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.
“When ‘Guga’ gained Roland Garros in 1997, I used to be only a boy. I used to be 9 years outdated,” Bellucci stated. “Once I noticed him on tv, I stated, ‘If he can do it, as a Brazilian, I believe sometime I will be on the large tournaments too’. ‘Guga’ made me assume that getting there, though it appeared very troublesome, was extra of a chance. He has helped persuade a variety of us Brazilians you can dream regardless of all of the difficulties.”
His love for tennis and the dream impressed by ‘Guga’ can be exhausting to let go of at 17 when he was contemplating a life away from the game.
“I didn’t need to have regrets sooner or later. I needed to strive a bit of extra,” Bellucci stated. “I believed, ‘I’m going to recuperate and return and check out once more, but when in two years I haven’t performed effectively, I’ll retire.’ That’s what I did, and at 19 I used to be already among the many High 200. I made a good selection. That second taught me perseverance and to at all times be robust.”
His determination laid the foundations for a superb profession. In 2010, as World No. 21, he grew to become the second-highest ranked Brazilian man ever, solely behind his hero Kuerten. Bellucci reached eight ATP Tour finals, profitable 4 of them, all on clay: Gstaad (2009, 2012), Santiago (2010), and Geneva (2015). He additionally amassed 200 tour-level wins, two of which got here in opposition to High-5 opponents: World No. 4 Andy Murray in Madrid in 2011, and No. 5 Kei Nishikori in Rio in 2017.
“The most effective spell of my profession was between 2010 and 2011. I performed higher within the large tournaments,” Bellucci stated.
His finest end result within the Grand Slams was a fourth-round look at Roland Garros in 2010. The lefty additionally was a semi-finalist on the ATP Masters 1000 occasion in Madrid in 2011. “At the moment I used to be considering much less, I had fewer worries, I used to be enjoying freely and I didn’t have a lot stress. Afterwards I began to assume a bit of extra, to doubt myself,” Bellucci stated.
Nevertheless, giving up was by no means an choice, and he by no means hesitated to ask for assist on the most troublesome instances of his profession.
Thomaz Bellucci on the 2011 Mutua Madrid Open, the place he was a semi-finalist. Credit score: Julian Finney/Getty Pictures
“I used to be at all times accompanied by psychologists who helped me enhance my determination making on and off the court docket,” Bellucci stated. “It wasn’t straightforward to search out the steadiness between private {and professional} in a sport like tennis. That’s why you see so many gamers with issues with melancholy, they’re not effectively though they’ve cash and outcomes. To me, the primary factor was taking care of myself, being mentally wholesome and being comfortable.”
He didn’t at all times handle it, although. “I usually felt depressed. It occurs to a variety of gamers as a result of there may be a variety of stress and expectation,” Bellucci stated. Nevertheless, he at all times discovered the energy to beat adversity and to face any criticism that got here his method. “With time you realise that an important factor is just not what folks consider you. There are individuals who gained’t worth you. An important factor is just not the approval of others, it’s being comfortable on court docket.”
His dedication colored his profession as a tennis participant. He gave his all to proceed enjoying, however a number of accidents have regularly pulled him away from competitors over the past three years. Two new points early in 2023 confirmed that it was time for him to hold up his racket. The top of the street got here on Wednesday, in entrance of his residence followers, when he misplaced to Sebastian Baez within the first spherical of one in all his favorite tournaments.
“It’s the suitable time,” Bellucci stated, not with no trace of nostalgia in his voice, but additionally with the peace of thoughts of somebody who’s ending a chapter of their life having given their all. “I really feel comfortable and a bit of bit unhappy too. Tennis was in my life for a few years, it’s not straightforward to cease enjoying. However I’ve loved myself a lot, and my physique is now feeling the years and the sacrifices I’ve made. It’s time to do one thing else, expertise new issues.”
Bellucci has little question that he desires to remain on this planet of tennis, maybe as a coach. “I need to try to move on my expertise, develop gamers, have a spot right here in Brazil to show. I believe I’ve a variety of issues to indicate the youngsters,” Bellucci stated. “It’s a stupendous time of transition, of change in my life.”
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from Tennis – ATP World Tour https://ift.tt/hKzqLio
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