Daughter & Pro Tennis: Parental Concerns

• Franklin Stoker

  tenniseditor

Tim van Rijthoven experienced fairytale weeks of tennis in Rosmalen and at Wimbledon in 2022. But three years after that wonderful summer, he stopped. The body didn’t want to go anymore. “I will certainly advise my daughter against becoming a tennis professional.”

Quit at 28. That is much too young for a top athlete. But Van Rijthoven now has other passions, such as his daughter Luna, born in April. “It’s fantastic to see her grow up. No one can take these first months away from me.”

Nowadays he participates in cycling, runs marathons and has even done an ultra trail. The latter is a long-distance run on unpaved paths. “A nice outlet,” he describes his new hobbies. “That top athlete in me has not left yet.”

And that is not surprising, because it was not long ago that Van Rijthoven attacked the international tennis top like a kind of Indiana Jones.

People tend to call him a ‘one-hit wonder’. After all, his peak was short and sweet. “You never want to be seen that way as a top athlete. I don’t feel that way either, because I know that I have not been able to show everything,” says Van Rijthoven.

“I am convinced that without the injuries I could have been a solid player for the top fifty. I have not even reached the top hundred now, because there were no points to be earned for Wimbledon in 2022 due to the coronavirus.”

Van Rijthoven remained stuck in 101st place. Reaching the top hundred, a holy grail in tennis, saved him by one place. “That was sometimes frustrating afterwards, but that feeling has now worn off.”

He saves warmer feelings for the summer of 2022. “I felt like I could beat anyone on a good day.”

This became apparent during that miracle week in Rosmalen, where he defeated top players such as Taylor Fritz and Félix Auger-Aliassime. Daniil Medvedev, who even became number one in the world the following week, also had to compete in the final. The result of that final battle is impressive: 6-4, 6-1 for Van Rijthoven.

“I was able to step out of the tennis bubble every time, because I slept at home instead of in a hotel. I only lived a 45-minute drive from Rosmalen,” he reflects.

“I could eat at home, watched a series and slept in my own bed. And the next morning I drove quietly to the tennis park again. That helped me enormously to keep my nerves under control.”

After that sensational title, a media circus comes his way. Van Rijthoven says he “embraces” all the fuss, but it does cause tensions. “I got a migraine, so much happened. Talk shows, interviews, you name it. I then hired a media manager.”

After Rosmalen’s tennis fairytale, the Wimbledon organization gave him a wild card, partly thanks to Richard Krajicek.

The 1996 champion successfully put in a good word for Van Rijthoven via e-mail. “Richard has always been my mentor, he helped me a bit on the sidelines. I learned a lot from him mentally.”

Van Rijthoven continues his Rosmalen form at Wimbledon. Djokovic ultimately proves to be too strong in the fourth round, although Van Rijthoven loses honorably. “I really believed I could beat him,” he says with conviction. “But my serves, which were an ace in the games before, now came back hard and deep. We are talking about Djokovic.”

“I enjoyed every minute of that match. Djokovic told me at the net that I had a bright future ahead of me, but that turned out a bit differently…”

The efforts are taking their toll on Van Rijthoven. Even before that summer of 2022, he has built up an enormous medical file: injuries to the elbow, wrist, armpit and back.

A ‘golfer’s elbow’ of his right arm is a particular tormentor. Van Rijthoven will have surgery in April 2023. According to the doctor, the chance of success is 85 percent, but Van Rijthoven will feel pain again when he returns in June 2024.

“I just didn’t have the same explosiveness with my serve as before. And my game is largely based on my serve.”

Then the inevitable will follow in the spring of 2025. “My body was no longer able to withstand top tennis. I did not reach my top level, quitting was the only option.”

He is now at peace with that choice. “The elbow injury may have been caused by the way I played, but otherwise I would never have gotten this far,” he says.

“I should have listened to my body earlier. The standard at the tennis association was: train a lot and don’t complain. That cost me my head when it came to my elbow. Only in recent years has this been looked at in a more nuanced way, because every person is different.”

– Especially in retrospect – he had to make more than just physical sacrifices to reach the top. “I was already living with a host family in France when I was 10. That is very young,” Van Rijthoven realizes. “I would never let my daughter go abroad at that age. What are we talking about?”

Inquiries show that important youth tournaments in the Netherlands still use host families.

“You can’t blame parents for that. You just listened to the advice of a coach, especially at that time. Nowadays people think about that more,” says Van Rijthoven.

Van Rijthoven is certainly not happy if his daughter turns out to have tennis ambitions later. “I give her all the space, but I certainly won’t recommend it to her. The journey to becoming a tennis professional is very tough. A team sport, making friends, I would rather recommend that to her.”