The tennis player installed in the quarterfinals of the Córdoba Open recounted his mental suffering during the mandatory isolation due to the coronavirus pandemic. “My head went anywhere,” he said.
A crude testimony of the serious mental consequences that the mandatory isolation due to the coronavirus pandemic gave this thursday John Ignatius Londonerqualified for the quarterfinals of the Córdoba Open. At the press conference, he delved into his condition without euphemisms.
“My head went anywhere. I was afraid to die, I thought that I could catch a disease, they were things that I had in my head and I did not understand why. When tennis resumed I had many doubts. I had to start over. We were unemployed for six months, that hurt me very badly and I paid dearly for it. I ended 2020 very badly emotionally. Then I started to play be afraid on the field. I was not diagnosed but I think it was panic“, he recalled.
But that was not all, but the difficulties continued: “I didn’t want to play anymore. All this time that I was able to put an end to it, after the US Open, I decided not to travel and stay training. I finished the year better and already this preseason I feel like I’ve gotten it into my head again”.
“I did not feel like a person satisfied with what I had done, because if I retired, I felt that I could give more and it would not look good on my part not to get out of that situation. I want to finish my career and say that I got out of the situation that personally was very hard. My goal is to get out of all this and feel good on the court again. When you’re in depression, anxiety, panic, it’s all dark. It cost me a lot but I had to get it out mentally. I did everything, medication, everything… But until he could get it out of here, he wasn’t going to change it. Today I feel like I’m making a lot of progress in that,” the 28-year-old deepened.
Also, Londero described the feeling of loneliness that he had to endure at that time: “I had no support from anyone. Only from my coaches and my family. A couple of messages from journalists. That was the only support I had from people, nothing outside of tennis. Only relatives, my work team and journalists who know who they are.”
Juan Ignacio Londero’s quarterfinals at the Córdoba Open
The 139 in the world got into the top eight of the contest, which he entered by invitation, after beat the Spanish Pedro Martínez (61), 6-3 and 7-6 in the round of 16. This Friday, Londero will face the Serbian Nikola Milojevic (136) for a place in the semifinals.
