“I haven’t been happy for the last couple of years”: Tirante opens up on mental health and players’ big egos

Thiago Agustin Tirante, who reached the semi-finals of the Bybit Stockholm Open on Thursday, has opened up about the mental health struggles that have weighed on him in recent years. “The most important thing for me at the moment is not the win or the good results, but that I am enjoying playing tennis and feeling happy again,” the Argentine told Bolavip. “I haven’t really been happy for the last couple of years, but I am happy now.”

“I am starting to understand what tennis means and the most important thing for me has definitely been to improve my mental health,” the 25-year-old added. “I have always had the game, but I wasn’t feeling mentally well.”

“People always think we are on vacation”

Tirante described the loneliness of life on the tour. “It’s very tough to travel alone on the Tour. There are so many things that people don’t see, especially outside of the court,” he said. “I think people always think we are on vacation, but we are going to so many tournaments, taking care of flights, hotels and all this.”

He also spoke about the gap between his life today and the one he grew up with. “I am just a very humble guy from Argentina, where I grew up with my family,” he said. “The difference between the life I grew up with and the life I have now just living in a bubble compared to the life and the house I grew up with in Argentina is big. It took me a lot of difficult years to realise.”

Tirante: “So many players have a very big ego”

Asked whether players talk to each other about these issues, Tirante pointed to a wider problem. “No, no, no, we are not good enough at speaking to each other about it between the players, but I think so many players have a very big ego, which is a big problem that the Tour has,” he said. “The top players are very closed people and they have their own team.”

“Maybe, I can speak to players from Argentina but not to other players, because they are not that open,” he continued. “I am a very warm person, I think Argentinians are just like that, but not the European players. So, it’s very difficult to open up to other players, because they don’t really give you the answer you need.”

From beating Djokovic in Cincinnati to the last four in Stockholm

Tirante’s words come during the best season of his career. In August, the then world No. 50 made his breakthrough in Cincinnati, beating Novak Djokovic 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the second round, which he called the best win of his career. He then beat Martin Landaluce and 14th seed Jakub Mensik to reach his first Masters 1000 quarter-final, where Arthur Fils stopped him.

Now ranked No. 51, he reached the last four in Stockholm by beating qualifier Aleksandr Shevchenko 7-6 (5), 6-7 (5), 6-3 in 2 hours 49 minutes. “It was a great battle against one of my friends on the Tour,” he said afterwards. It is his third ATP Tour semi-final and his first on hard courts. He will face fourth seed Alejandro Tabilo for a place in the final.

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