Alexander Zverev wants to raise awareness about diabetes in sport – Liberation

The world number 2 tennis player and Olympic champion in Tokyo has announced that he is type 1 diabetic and is launching a foundation to support people with the disease.

His testimony is rare for an athlete of such a level. In the columns of the team this weekend, German tennis player Alexander Zverev, 25, revealed that he has type 1 diabetes. The world number 2 and Olympic champion in Tokyo spoke about his daily management of the disease, his feeling shame when he was younger and the pessimism of doctors about his chances of breaking into high-level sport.

In rehabilitation since his impressive fall in the semi-finals of Roland-Garros against Rafael Nadal (three torn ankle ligaments), the German – who is also under an internal investigation by the ATP, body that manages the men’s professional circuit, because his ex-girlfriend, Olga Sharypova, accuses him of domestic violence -, announced on August 6 the launch of his foundation whose goal is to support children with type 1 diabetes and help prevent type 2 diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes, which concerns about 10% of diabetics, is an autoimmune disease with genetic predispositions, which can develop throughout life but most often during childhood and adolescence. It occurs when the cells of the pancreas self-destruct, causing a deficiency in insulin, a hormone that regulates glycemia (amount of sugar in the blood). Type 2 diabetes results from poor use of the insulin produced by the body. According to the World Health Organization, the number of people with this disease in the world has increased from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014. In France in 2020, more than 3.5 million people are treated per drug for diabetes, i.e. 5.3% of the population according to Public Health France.

Raising awareness among diabetics

“Type 2 diabetes is almost non-existent in average athletes and those of high level, because it is caused by a poor diet and a lack of physical activity, explain to Release Valentin Lacroix, nutritionist at the National Institute for Sport, Expertise and Performance. In contrast, type 1 diabetes, like what Alexander Zverev has, can affect anyone. Even if it remains rare, more and more athletes are speaking out on the subject because it can have an impact on the level of performance. It is a disease that is not always easy to manage on a daily basis. To raise awareness among people with diabetes and show them that it is possible to achieve high-level sports performance, two Americans, for example, founded the Novo Nordisk cycling team in 2008. Entirely made up of type 1 diabetics, it is now playing in the second world division.

In the same vein, British rower Steve Redgrave has also recently spoken out on the subject in the media. Diagnosed at 35 while preparing for the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the rowing legend didn’t think he could compete again. “I had almost convinced myself that my career was over. I was very down to earth. I hadn’t had a bad career – six times world champion and four times Olympic champion. That’s how I saw things.” he told the Guardian in 2018. Like Alexander Zverev, the rower had to get used to daily insulin injections and change his diet to keep up with the grueling pace of training. Two years later, he won a fifth Olympic title in a row.

The athlete also highlights the evolution of care since the 90s. From insulin syringes, patients moved on to a more practical and discreet system of pens, before these gave way to patches that allow now to monitor their blood sugar levels live… even if they are not discreet when the arms are bare. “The blood glucose sensors are the size of a 2 euro coin, it catches the eye, emphasizes Valentin Lacroix. And for the sportsman, the fact of injecting himself can create shortcuts with doping and can therefore lead to sometimes destabilizing questions which are not necessarily easy to manage. Ashamed, Alexander Zverev thus took time before assuming the disease in the eyes of the world. “Around 17-18, when journalists asked me if I was diabetic, I denied it. In the beginning, even on the circuit, I was hiding to inject myself with insulin, I was doing that in the toilet, he confides in the team. When I started meeting girls, it was impossible to talk to them about it! I was far too embarrassed to broach the subject. But the more successes I accumulated, the more I proved to myself that everyone had been wrong to prevent me from dreaming, and the more I started to feel comfortable. Today, I feel like it’s my role to talk about it.”