WHAT THEY LEARNED DURING QUARANTINE

“When the world shut down in March, these players kept on searching for ways to improve themselves as players and people. ”

By Chris Oddo

The Coronavirus pandemic has introduced a lot of darkness into all of our lives, with worldwide suffering, economic depressions and political divisiveness. Closer to home the pandemic has wreaked havoc on the sport we love, causing the cancellation of a massive swath of the 2020 season as it continues to wreak havoc on the globe and threatens to do even more harm.

As far as difficult years go, 2020 will go down as the worst ever for many of us.

But it has not been without its positive moments. There are always valuable lessons to be learned in life, and that is why we reached out to the tennis community where some of the strongest, most positive forces that we know reside, to find out how they managed to stay positive during the pandemic.

Here’s what we learned: Bethanie Mattek-Sands

“It’s a great time to reset. I’m talking about personally, career-wise, strategically, I think it’s just that we’re all kind of forced to halt the hustle in a way. I think it’s a great time to sort of evaluate your priorities. ”

“At the end of all this there is going to be a lot of silver lining and I’m hoping that my energy and what I can put out there is encouraging people to look at it that way. There’s definitely facts we have to face but I think we can all come out of this stronger, clearer, more positive and refreshed in a way.”

“I think now is the time to do something like that. Being on the tour for a long time I’ve always thought that if the men and the women got together, you are more powerful as a group, combined. I just think just in the space, in general in the world, it’s a united front that we can put on.”

Corentin Moutet (Make Music!)

France’s Corentin Moutet is truly leading a double life. The minute the tours called off the season in March he took to his flat in Paris and proceeded to perfect his musical chops. The result is some hard-hitting rap that is edgy, intense and catchy. And the Moutet is tackling some tough subjects, like police violence and racial inequality.

“Actually I think for me it’s not that hard compared to other players because I still have school and I have something to do. I have different goals in my life, not only regarding tennis, so right now I’m focusing on that. Yeah, I’m finishing “I feel so much better on court now that I was able to express myself in music, because I wanted to do it since a long time, so I feel so much better every day in life, because I had this feeling that I had something in me and I couldn’t express myself totally so I feel better on court. I think for me it’s a good balance, I love the music and it’s school actually next week and most of my time I’m just studying, that’s great because I’m not thinking about the whole situation and I’m not bored so. I think my situation is better because of that.” a good balance for me, I have to do it. I need to do it, or else I won’t feel good mentally if I don’t do music. But I don’t want to, and I have to keep in mind of course that tennis is my job and my first passion, so no doubt that I will still give the same even more because I feel better now on court and in the practice - I will be more

Quarantine is a royal pain in the you-know-what for everybody and especially tennis players who make their living travelling the globe, but for Poland’s up and coming Iga Swiatek, there was a silver lining in all of the madness. She got to stay home and concentrate on her studies as she finished up her schooling. It meant a lot to the young Pole, she’s a student of life and an engaged learner, and she believes in the importance of personal growth as a way to become better at her profession.

ready than ever.”

Alison Riske spent a lot of time watching TV and finally spending some muchdeserved time with her husband at home, but she also continued to develop the part of the game that has made her the phenomenal player she is today: mental strength.

“I think, honestly, as I have previously stated in interviews, the mental game is the most important aspect of everything that we’re doing in our sport,” she told Tennis Now. “For me to kind of have this time to dedicate really to just that, along with obviously some physical things, but in my opinion mental is harder and you don’t always have the chance to work at it in a calm environment, so yes, I am speaking to people right now to help me with my mental game.”

Roger Federer (Unity)

Roger Federer is the kind of guy who is good to go if you give him three months to hole up in Switzerland and tool around with his wife and kids. He likes to hike, to throw snowballs, eat pasta, or just Netflix and chill. He’s easy. But he’s also got his finger on the pulse of fashion - he released a new sneaker collab with On Running.

Dubbed “The Roger” the all-white shoe is a Stan Smith Adidas throwback. It’s simple, elegant and stylish, and it could be the next big thing.

Johanna Konta (Start a Podcast)

Who’s that interviewing the twins from Harry Potter? That would be Johanna Konta rookie podcast host.

“The Johanna Konta Podcast is a dose of relaxspiration (relaxation + inspiration) where you get to meet incredible people, hear amazing stories and open the door to the world of professional tennis,” Konta says in her show notes. We can’t wait for the next episode.

Arthur Reymond (Build a Clay Court!)

Ready for the coolest quarantine story? “Arthur Reymond and his dad got tired of being holed up at home without tennis, so they built a clay-court!” That’s right, tennis, meet Field of Dreams. Reymond and his dad found an old court that belonged to a neighbor and asked if they could renovate it. Overgrown with roots and weeds, and had not been taken care of in seven or eight years. But the father and soon took care of business and – wow – just look at the finished product.

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Stan Wawrinka (Cocktails and Social Media Dominance)

For those who prefer the less serious side of life there was Stan Wawrinka and Benoit Paire, who became Instagram mixologists and conducted mega happy hours when the world first shut down. It was a welcome relief for so many tennis fans. Sometimes there doesn’t have to be a message, it’s just enough that someone is sharing, and Wawrinka and Paire, they did so in style

Most tennis players are playing video games or bingeing Hulu, so you have to hand it to Alize Cornet. She’s actually written a book and working on a second one. Are we talking about the next Simone de Beauvoir? Well, we’ll just have to wait and see.

Alizé Cornet (Finish Writing a Book, Start Working on Another )

“It’s all my own work. It’s a mixture of autobiography and travelogue,” said Cornet. “The idea now is for it to be published before Roland Garros in September. “I’m writing another book which is not at all in the same vein. That’s stories ... an imagined world. I have no intention of publishing that one. It’s just for pleasure. It’s what I like doing and it helps me to pass the time.”

Coco Gauff (Use Platform For Positive Action)

Sixteen-year-old Coco Gauff has burst into the public eye because she is an immensely talented tennis player. But the rising American wants to be much more than that and she has pledged on social media to use her growing platform for good.

“Am I next?” asked Coco in one of her first posts after George Floyd’s death. It was a powerful moment, and more would follow. “You need to use your voice. No matter how big or small your platform is, you need to use your voice. I saw a Dr (Martin Luther) King quote that said ‘the silence of the good people is worse than the brutality of the bad people’. So you need to not be silent, because if you are being silent you are choosing the side of the oppressor.”