The drama of a former Wimbledon champion: she changed tennis for modeling and receives constant criticism on her social networks

The young russian Sofya Zhuk, who was consecrated Junior Wimbledon champion in 2015 with only 15 years, he assured that he is having a bad time after receive constant displays of aggressiveness on their social networks as a result of the change of profession for which he decided to bet.

The Moscow native had shown good performances during her career in the tennis world, however, an injury forced her to put a hiatus from the sport. Since then her new facet was launched: she is a model and share your campaigns on your official account Instagram.

Zhuk, which has more than 60 thousand followers on his profile, broke out after posting a topless photo, which received hundreds of negative comments.

“I did not understand what the problem was. I posted a photo so what? When I share something, I don’t try to send any messages. I’m just posting a photo that I like. But when I shared that photo I got a flood of messages. Normally I wouldn’t worry about them, but this time they were very aggressive “, considered the Russian in an interview with the portal “RT”.

“I think people just can’t accept that I have found myself outside of tennis., that I can live happily without sports and without sinking into depression, “remarked the young woman who at the time was compared to her compatriot Maria Sharapova.

Zhuk also explained that it was a chronic back injury that caused his departure from the sports world: “I have had serious injuries in recent years and I have decided to give my body a couple of years of rest. Even before Junior Wimbledon, my back was so bad that no doctor wanted to even help me ”.

“My body doesn’t absorb protein well and the discs in my spine are everywhere. I have had MRIs that show that the strength of my spine is the equivalent of a person of 50 or 60 years “added.

Along with the only photo as a tennis player that appears on his social network, the Russian revealed “what happens to tennis players behind the scenes of what you see on television.”

“It’s really not that colorful and fun until you hit the top 60-70 WTA. You are not making that much money yet because you have to cover travel, coach, hotel and living expenses. Besides that, you are basically never home and you always live in hotels, ”he explained.

“If you are outside the top 100 you have to play qualys in almost every WTA tournament, which it’s far from how they treat you when you’re playing Main Draw which is sad “, he remarked. And I add: “Often times, people forget the players who play in the ITF to move on to the WTA. It is very sad to see how many people had to fight for ITF players to get financial help from the ITF during COVID-19. “

Finally, he stated: “We train daily for hours and hours in the hottest climate there is just to be able to compete at the highest level when you see us on television, but you never see what really happens behind television as living off painkillers. “

Sofya Zhuk, who knew how to climb to the post 116 in December 2018, has a record of 123 wins and 66 losses in individual duels and accumulated a profit of 400 thousand dollars. Her last participation in the WTA circuit was when she played the first qualifying round at Wimbledon 2019, in which she was defeated by Varvara Lepchenko in three sets.

In that Junior London title in 2015, the Russian was not seeded and lost only one set throughout the tournament. In the final she beat Anna Bilinkova 7-5, 6-4.

Despite being linked to the world of modeling, the Russian assured: “I like the idea of ​​working around tennis, being able to help players with the experience I got from being inside. I feel like I can relate to the players on a different level, something that comes from when you’ve been on the tour instead of being something of a stranger. “

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