Iga Świątek (1. WTA) lost to Qinwen Zheng (7. WTA) in the semi-finals of the Olympic Games. The Polish player was devastated after this match, as evidenced by her crying during one of the interviews. The 23-year-old simply broke down, stood against the wall and was devastated. At the beginning of August this year, sports psychologist – Dariusz Nowicki – cooperating with, among others, the Polish Athletics Association and the Polish Riflemen’s Association. In a conversation with the Interia portal, he expressed his concerns about how such a sensitive person as Iga would cope with being under constant pressure and mental overload.
Iga is very overloaded and sooner or later, hopefully as late as possible, she will experience burnout syndrome. Whether it will turn into depression or will it end only with a period of fatigue and a return to sports, I don’t know, but I’m afraid that such a dark scenario is hanging in the air – assessed the psychologist.
Now, in a conversation with the Interia service, the psychologist was asked whether his words had met with a significant response. – No, there was practically no response when it comes to direct contact with me – he began. – I received only one message on the social media messenger from one of the fans, who pointed out that finally someone was speaking out about what awaits overworked athletes and how serious the consequences are. He added that it is a pity that so little is said and written about it – he added.
Dariusz Nowicki revealed a factor that can minimize overload
Dariusz Nowicki has no doubt that one of the key factors that could minimize mental overload is rest. – We talk about depression more and more often, we talk and write more and more often about what happens mainly among children and young people, as a group most exposed to the influence of various factors related to chronic stress. A lot is also starting to be said about athletes who speak about it themselves, for example the cases of Marek Plawga or Aneta Szczepańska, including depressive states and the most dramatic steps. However, in reality, little is being done at the level of monitoring regenerative factors, which could certainly minimize this problem among athletes – he stated.
Due to fatigue from the season, the Polish player withdrew from the WTA 1000 tournament in Toronto at the beginning of August. Her break from playing between competitions was less than two weeks. According to the psychologist, this is too short. – Such a break should last at least three weeks. And these three weeks consist of the athlete not lying in bed and staring at the ceiling, but their activity must meet two conditions. Firstly, it is about activity other than usual in preparation for the next start, so, for example, the tennis player is engaged in cycling, swimming or anything else that allows for movement, but breaks the routine of traditional activities. And the second condition is a change of environment, so as far away as possible from the courts, places associated with training and starting in competitions – he summed up.
Let us recall that Iga Śwątek ultimately became the bronze medalist of the Olympic Games in Paris. The Polish player defeated Anna Karolina Schmiedlova 6:2, 6:1 in the match for third place.
