The companions of Behind the racquet They are still looking for stories to help us discover new profiles within the professional circuit. To know the most personal side of those players who are there every week, in every tournament, every season, even if they don’t make as much noise as the big stars. This time it has been Natalia Vikhlyantseva the one who has gone through the confessional to remember one of the hardest moments of his life, his beginnings in elite sport or the learning that his 23 years of life have left him. The Russian, who in 2017 was one step away from touching the top 50, reveals some specific details that show us her personality.
“At the age of 8 I played my first tournament. I remember there were three other players in the draw and I lost to all of them. The rest of the players received gifts on the last day; They didn’t give me anything. I cried a lot that day. My grandparents tried to cheer me up in some way, they didn’t expect me to have such an intense reaction, but I was very young and still didn’t understand the impact a result could have.
At the age of 13 my grandfather died, he was a great pillar in my life, as well as being the first time I lost a loved one. It was a very difficult time, but nobody paid attention to me. For weeks I didn’t want to study or train, I didn’t want to know anything, I would go to the slopes and tell my parents that I was sick and couldn’t play. I took a break from the competition. That was the first time that I also had bad results in school. The head of studies told me that I should separate myself from tennis to focus more on my academic training.
My mother really considered this possibility, but I drew strength from where I didn’t have it and told her that I could handle both. My mother refused to let me have a tutor, although it is easier to understand things when you study with someone independently. When you do your homework on your own, however, it all stays in your head. Now I go to university and speak Russian, French and English. So I can say that what I learned in school later has served me well in life.
In youth tennis there is no one very good, so no one expects you to win. In my case, I preferred to give more importance to studies, so I did not pay too much attention to my junior career. The parents of other young players pressured them to practice and compete better, but my parents were never like that, they were always by my side, they told me that tennis was for fun. My rivals trained twice a day, while I only played for a while after school.
I had my own balance, but wanted to spend more time with my friends outside of the tennis world. They didn’t care what happened in the rankings or who beat you in the Grand Slams Juniors. At school we also talked about other things, that’s why I liked it so much. All in all, I kept training and competing until I won some games and got a good ranking. It all came together. In that moment I learned that you need to find yourself and never give up.”.
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