Francisco Cerundolo rips haters: “Tennis players are not robots”

Learning to manage pressure is one of the secrets to trying to live as peaceful a life as possible. This applies to daily life but also to the routine of athletes.

In an interview with puntodebreak.com, Francisco Cerundolo expressed himself on a topic that does not only apply to tennis players, but applies to everyone, in everyday life

People often tend to underestimate the human aspect. in such a fast and ultra-competitive society. There seems to be no balance anymore and judging negatively has become one of the worst routines in our society.

“The truth is that everyone suffers ups and downs throughout their life. The same goes for tennis. You have to dream big, but at the same time don’t put too much pressure on yourself. The world doesn’t end if you don’t achieve a goal and you can’t give up mentally,” Cerundolo said.

Francisco Cerundolo© Clive Brunskill / Staff Getty Images Sport

Cerundolo on mental health issue

Cerundolo then opened up on the delicate topic of athletes’ mental health.

“I started the season badly, but the important thing is to turn your year around and continue to look for new solutions. Now I’m playing better and better. Tennis is a very complicated sport, an individual sport.

You lose every week unless you become the champion. There will always be some days of the week when you will be down and in a bad mood. We spend a lot of time away from home and people think that tennis players are robots who come on the court just to play.

But we have family, friends, a partner in our life. There are issues that can affect you when you are on the field and people don’t know it. These are problems that we don’t let emerge, there’s no reason to talk about them, and that’s why sometimes people criticize without knowing,” he explained.

“We all receive criticism and in Argentina they are very demanding from this point of view. When you are number one in Argentina you have to get results and please everyone.

Now I’m number two, but the important thing is to have been in that conversation for several years. It’s bad when things don’t go well and they start criticizing you. People are extreme: they love you when you win and call you an idiot when you lose,” he added.