“Never even liked tennis anyway.” So tweeted Sir Andy Murray after his final professional appearance on August 1st. The three-time grand-slam winner and twice Olympic champion announced his retirement before the Paris games, in which he reached the quarter-final of the men’s doubles. His post racked up more than a million likes. Its dry tone was self-mocking, typifying an athlete who really did love tennis—but sometimes looked miserable while playing it, especially towards the end of his career, when the pain on his face was very real as injuries took a toll.
Sportstars like Sir Andy are fortunate. They win fame and riches for playing games. Yet top-level athletes often speak of the hardship of success. The Paris Olympics were replete with stories of champions who had temporarily fallen out of love with their sports before returning to glory. These tales are generally told in terms of redemption—athletes beating their demons to win again. But they also show how the pressure of elite competition weighs down even on the very best.
Take the swimming. Florent Manaudou, a French freestyler, won Olympic gold at the London games in 2012. But he later took a two-year break from the water to focus on handball, citing the need “to keep intact the pleasure” that had been his original motivation. Having dived back into the pool in 2018, he won two bronzes in Paris. Then there is Adam Peaty, a British breaststroker. The three-time Olympic gold medallist stopped swimming in 2022 because of mental-health problems and the fact he was “not enjoying the sport”. He returned just over a year later and added a silver to his Olympic tally this time around.
