It’s good for tennis! – Alizé Lim on players and their passions

In the latest episode of The French Insider, WTA player Alizé Lim cast her eye over players’ social media – and had a look at the hobbies they have picked up during the 2020 global pandemic.

The Frenchwoman was fascinated to see the huge range of pastimes players have been trying out – often things they have never had the time to do before.

“For most of them, since a very young age there was only one way – it was tennis,” she explained. “They were good at it, they never had to wonder what else to do in their lives.

“I spoke about it with Corentin Moutet. He’s one who started music during confinement. He said he always wanted to do it and now he has time to do it. [Denis] Shapovalov is writing songs – they created a song together! That’s really fun for tennis. They’re bringing new things into tennis.”

‘Oxygen’

Other players with new skills include Alizé Cornet, who has been writing novels, Gael Monfils, who has been living out his dream of becoming a TV host with a show on Twitch, and Stefanos Tsitsipas, who has been writing scripts.

“This year gave them the opportunity to look deeper into themselves and know what they like to do outside of tennis,” added Lim.

“It’s such a tough job…you don’t have time for anything else. Even when you have a day off, you have to be careful with what you do.

“I think it’s fun for them to find these hobbies that are new and give them a little bit of oxygen outside of tennis.”

And Lim practises what she preaches – she has started learning Vietnamese.