Andreas Seppi on how playing too much made him realise importance of taking breaks

Italian tennis player Andreas Seppi is the latest player to be featured on the Behind the Racquet series by American tennis player Noah Rubin. The series offers a platform for players to talk about their journey on and off the court.

Several current and former players have used the Behind the Racquet platform to talk about the challenges they have faced during their matches and careers as well as their struggles off the court and how they have overcome them.

In recent times, former World No. 3 Nadia Petrova, two time Grand Slam winner Mary Pierce and World No. 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas have also been featured on the list.

Andreas Seppi on how he learned from his mistake of playing too many tournaments

In the series, Seppi talks about how playing too much during the 2010 season led him to take a break from the circuit for four weeks and led him to learn that he needed to take breaks rather than continuously play at events.

"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."

You can read his complete post on the Instagram post below - 

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“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.⁣

A post shared by Behind The Racquet (@behindtheracquet) on Aug 13, 2020 at 10:01am PDT

36 year old Andreas Seppi is a former World No. 18 and has won 3 singles and 1 doubles title on the ATP circuit. His best performances at the Grand Slams came when he reached the quarter-finals of the 2009 Australian Open and the 2011 US Open. One of his biggest wins came at the 2015 Australian Open, where he defeated second seed and four-time champion Roger Federer in the third round. This was his first win over Federer in 11 career meetings. Seppi went on to lose to Australia's Nick Kyrgios in the next round. He is currently ranked No. 88 in the world.

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