Gilles Simon announces he is taking a break away from the Tour

French tennis veteran Gilles Simon is having a tough time dealing with all the restrictions on the Tour and he has decided to take a break.

Simon, 36, traveled to Australia in late-January, where he made the second round at the Murray River Open before losing in the first round at the Australian Open. 

Simon, a former world No. 6, won his first match of the season as he beat Elias Ymer in the Murray River Open first round, before losing to fellow compatriot Jeremy Chardy. 

Simon then picked up back-to-back first round losses as he lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas at Melbourne Park and Dennis Novak in Montpellier this week, respectively. 

''My heart is no longer there to travel and play in these conditions, unfortunately I have to take a break in order to preserve myself mentally,'' Simon said in a Twitter post. 

Simon recently spoke about changing some of his routines 

Simon, now ranked at No. 68 in the world, is well beyond his prime but he still loves the game and wants to play it professionally. 

"When you are doing speed workouts, it’s always a little more fun than running around in the woods, or weight training," Simon told Alize Lim on Tennis Majors.

“That’s a little more boring, too. It’s a bit more games, reactions, etcetera. “I’d like to feel as good on the court as possible. Physically I was really a machine. I could spend twice as much energy as needed and still stay in the match. Now if I spend twice as much energy, even if it’s in a set, either I get hurt of can’t hold on.''

Simon has had success on the ATP Tour throughout his career, having won a total of 14 ATP titles in singles. 

It remains to be seen when will Simon be ready to continue his 2021 campaign. 

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3dS7Jho