Fabio Fognini recalls his mental health battles in the most traumatizing and darkest period of his life

Fabio Fognini tells about one of the most difficult phases of his career.

Fabio Fognini recalls his mental health battles in the most traumatizing and darkest period of his life

Fabio Fognini (Image Credit: Sports Illustrated)

Fabio Fognini was once the superstar of Italian tennis. He was compared with the Italian legends and the successor of their legacy. However, over the past few years his form dwindled. His fitness also took a lot of beating.

These hardships changed the Italian tennis professional on a psychological level. On the twilight of his career, he looks back at his career and introspects his successes and failures in a recent interview.

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During this interview, he also talks about a panic attack he suffered from and how he dealt with it.

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“I remember one year I was in Paris, and one night I woke up almost crying, next to Flavia. I thought I was dying. I was sweating, tachycardia, I didn’t feel my left arm, I thought “help, I’m having a heart attack”. But no, it was a panic attack,” Fognini said.

“The next day I entered the field and I didn’t know which fish to catch, I didn’t know where to go, I couldn’t breathe well. These panic attacks must be managed, they must be worked on, accustoming the mind with exercises and being aware that such things can happen,” he continued.

“At first I was scared. But not as a tennis player who hangs up his racket at 35 or 38, as a person. I thought: I don’t want to stay like this. Because it’s not about suffering on the pitch, fighting, giving my best, running, winning games: that’s a suffering I’m willing to try. But off the pitch I don’t want to suffer like this,” he further added.

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Fabio Fognini will miss out on playing at Monte-Carlo Masters 2023

Fabio Fognini (Image Credit: Sportellate.it)
Fabio Fognini (Image Credit: Sportellate.it)

The Italian won 9 ATP titles in his career. Most of these titles are won on clay surface. His last triumph in an ATP tournament came in 2019. He won the Monte-Carlo Masters men’s singles title by beating Dusan Lajovic in the final that year.

Fabio Fognini however, since then has not been able to reach the semi-final round of this tournament. This year his hopes of making a return to this ATP 1000 Masters tournament were dashed after he got injured at the Estoril Open.

In the Estoril Open, he was knocked out in the second-round by compatriot Marco Cecchinato 6-4, 3-6, 3-6. He is still chasing his tenth ATP title which will help him to equal Italian tennis legend Adriano Panetta’s record of ten ATP titles triumphs in his career.

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