The heartbreaking tale of a former tennis Top Ten: “I had to ask my friends to buy me food”

Being an elite athlete can have great risks if you only live in the present and do not think about the future. An athlete’s career is relatively short compared to other people’s working lives, and most must occupy themselves with reflecting on their future while competing for great prizes.

Otherwise, what happened to the former ATP world number 8, Mark Philippoussis, who experienced financial complications firsthand and at one point in his life had to ask his friends for help to be able to eat.

This was explained by the former tennis player in a revealing interview for the reality television SAS Australia from his native country: “My family is my world, it is my priority, my everything. I had the dream of becoming a professional tennis player and my family put everything at stake ”.

“My father had a good job in a banking business and he quit because he said he wanted to help me fulfill my dreams, so he left his dreams and I worked very hard to fulfill mine “explained the 44-year-old former player.

The Melbourne native, who came to be within the Top Ten, had his highest valuation in 1999 and won the Davis Cup in 2003, went through a series of injuries and operations on your right knee That they separated him from the circuit, it was in those moments where he began to notice how his economic income decreased until he was left with nothing.

“The good news is that I was able to take care of my family so they didn’t have to go back to work. My father or mother did not have to work. But I have gone through a difficult situation with injuries where everything stopped “, he remembered.

“When you’re an athlete, the last thing you want to think about is what they always tell you: ‘Save for a rainy day.’ You feel like you are weak when you get injured and you have something to back up. You can’t think that way because you have to move on, you have to recover and be fine. I was away for a few months. I couldn’t afford much, I had to ask my friends to buy food “, explained about the difficult situation he went through when he had to undergo surgery for the sixth time on his right knee.

“We ate cabbage pasta seven days a week, until it ended up being one of my favorite foods. My mother said it was ‘poor man’s food’ because it is so simple. I felt very ashamed because they gave me their dream and my responsibility was to take care of them. I was in a dark place and I had depression. There is no greater pain than seeing my loved ones suffer for my actions ”, he reflected.

However, injuries and his time off the court were not the only reasons that led to Philippoussis financial ruin, but also the mismanagement of money that he knew how to win through his sports performance.

Luxury cars, a collection of 15 motorcycles and even a $ 100,000 whim for a Dodge Viper (sports car) that he simply used not wanting to take a taxi home, and sold the next day, were some of the bad decisions that echo in his head today.

Finally, in 2009 it hit rock bottom Going to court to avoid having his family home, valued at $ 1.3 million, seized for late mortgage payment: “Paying bills and having no income has been difficult for several years, but everyone has to go through it ”, he assured.

Retired since 2006, the Australian appears to have stabilized economically thanks to the use of his image and the importance he had in his time as a player. Today, the former tennis player is happy on his social networks in which he shares images of his family, as well as the memories of his time among the elite of the sport. According to the official ATP site, Mark reaped almost $ 7 million as a professional tennis player throughout his stay on the circuit between 1993 and 2006, in addition to also registering a lot of activity in the 2010 season and a single presentation in the 2015.

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