Ana Ivanovic reveals the secret that she hid during her last years on the tour: "I was suffering from constant panic attacks"

Ana Ivanovic has revealed years after her retirement one of the least known episodes of her professional career: the panic attacks she suffered during her last years as a tennis player. The former world number one, champion of Roland Garros in 2008, has explained that many times she was unable to control the fear when she had to step onto the court. A confession that helps to understand some of the most difficult moments of the Serbian tennis player's career.

The statement, reported by Tennis Photos, reveals a reality that Ivanovic kept silent about for a long time. While from the outside fans and experts could wonder what was happening when her level suddenly dropped during a match, the former player was experiencing an internal struggle that, according to her own words, prevented her from continuing. "During the last years of my career, I suffered very serious panic attacks every time I had to step onto the court," Ivanovic acknowledges. "I never talked about it, but the panic attacks were incredibly intense."

The Serbian explains that those episodes could even occur in the middle of a match. Suddenly, the player who had been able to win a Grand Slam and reach the top of the world rankings could find herself completely overwhelmed by a sensation that was not only related to tennis or her opponent. "People wondered what had suddenly happened in the middle of a game, why my game was falling apart, but the truth is that I was overwhelmed by panic and simply couldn't continue," she states.

Her words shed light on a particularly challenging stage of her career. Ivanovic was for years one of the great references in world tennis, but she also had to face enormous pressure, the expectations generated after reaching number one, and the difficulty of maintaining the level of demand that comes with the elite.

For Ivanovic, the fear didn't end when the match was over

Ana Ivanovic's confession also reveals that the problem was not limited to the moment of competing. Just the thought of having to expose herself publicly again the next day could become another a source of anguish. "Afterwards, I was overwhelmed by the fear of having to go out and play in front of people again the next day," explains the former tennis player.

The statement sums up a particularly tough situation for an athlete whose profession consisted precisely of competing in front of thousands of people. The court, where Ivanovic had experienced some of the most important moments of her life, could also become the stage for an internal struggle that the public was completely unaware of.

The Serbian retired from professional tennis in 2016, at the age of 29, after a career marked by great successes but also by injuries and by a progressive difficulty in maintaining the consistency she had shown in her best years. Now, much later, her testimony allows us to grasp a dimension of that stage that she had never publicly shared.

Ivanovic's confession also serves as a reminder that behind the results, rankings, and victories, there is a personal reality that is not always visible from the stands. Sometimes, a drop in performance or a match that ends unexpectedly conceals a much deeper battle. And in Ana Ivanovic's case, that battle was marked by panic attacks that, for years, she chose to keep silent about.

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Ana Ivanovic revela el secreto que ocultó durante sus últimos años en activo: “Sufría ataques de pánico constantes”