JI ATHLETES: From a Mental Health Break to Fueling a Grand Slam Comeback w/ Amanda Anisimova

0:00Welcome to the Just Ingredients podcast. I'm Cara Lynn, and here we dive deep into the journey of healing and wellness. If you're ready to learn, feel empowered, and take charge of your health, you're in the right place. Welcome back to the show, everyone. Today, I am super excited for the guests that we have on the show. I actually have been following her for years. I actually have wanted her on for quite a while. and a lot of times we have doctors on here, scientists on here, researchers, and lately we've been having people come on to tell their stories. And I am so excited because today's guest is Amanda Anasanova, and you guys all probably know her from the tennis world, and she has an incredible story.

0:47And so welcome, Amanda, to the show. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so honored to be on the show today and super excited. Well, thank you. I know you're so busy, especially right now with everything going on. So I appreciate you being here. Will you tell my listeners, and I'm even curious, how did you get started in tennis? Like, did you start as a little kid? And how did this turn into becoming a professional? Yeah, I started when I was very young. So very early on, I picked up a racket, like a baby kids racket when I was three years old. And that all started because my sister played college tennis and she's 13 years older than me.

1:27So it really ran in the family and my parents were very passionate about tennis and they saw like my eagerness to follow my sister around or copy whatever she was doing on the courts. Because I was at her practices a lot, my parents would have to take me because they were busy with her a lot of the time. And it was something that I was drawn to as a child very early on. And then as time went on, coaches were telling my parents that they could see I had, even though I was very young, a talent for it and that I have a lot of potential. So my parents really started investing in my tennis and trying to train me and teach me how to play.

2:10And yeah, it became a full-time thing that I kind of never stepped away from. That's incredible. So did your parents play tennis? They did not. When they moved to the States with my sister, she started playing like for high school. She kind of dabbled in a few other sports, but she primarily played tennis and decided to choose that when she went to college. But yeah, my parents were just very passionate about it. They had a lot of interest in tennis specifically, and that's kind of how it all came about. Okay, so I'm curious, did you like play high school tennis and then go pro after that? Or did you go pro before high school?

2:48So I was homeschooled pretty much my whole life for tennis because of the amount of hours I played ever since I was little. Like, I was always on the court playing a lot, but I still studied and did homeschooling. But for that reason, I didn't play in high school, even though sometimes I was like, oh, that would be pretty fun and something I kind of considered. But I knew if I ever wanted to make it pro, then if I went to high school, just take too much time in my day. And I was training a lot and spent a lot of hours working on, you know, just developing as a player. So, yeah, I was kind of around that 14, 15 year age mark where I was considering going professional and thinking that this might be the career path for me.

3:32But it's still really early to to know if you're going to make it at that age and if you're going to be successful. So it was kind of a difficult decision because I officially turned pro when I was 16. And when you officially turn pro, that means you can't play college tennis. So it was a really big decision for me. I think those rules have changed now. But back then, once you start earning money, then your scholarship goes out the window. That's incredible. Do you find that most professional tennis players these days skip the college route? Or do they usually go college than professional? I think it depends.

4:08I think also culturally it depends a little bit. I think in the States, a lot of the players choose to go to college first and maybe not do the full four years, but do two years and then see how it goes on the pro circuit. But for me, I mean, I had a really successful junior career. So I kind of just went straight into it and took a gamble on myself. But if anything were to happen, because it's so unpredictable with tennis and you never know what might happen tomorrow, I always had a plan B. It would just mean that I wouldn't play tennis, but I had other careers that interested me and other backup options.

4:45But yeah, I think it depends. And I have a lot of respect for the people who do go the college route and then become very successful on the pro circuit because it means you're a later bloomer because obviously you've spent many years studying and just takes a while. But yeah, I have a lot of respect for the people who have come out of that and make it to the top because there are quite a few players who have done it. I'm curious because a lot of sports, you have to go junior pro at age 16 and then the pro circuit. So is that how it works for tennis as well or no? Yeah, I mean, there's, you know, the USTA tournaments, which I played a lot in.

5:22It's just in the States, just in America. So I started with that, or I guess even just Florida tournaments. And then you go to the US level. And then there are ITFs, which is the junior tournaments and the junior Grand Slam. So I did all of it and I traveled and I got to meet some really cool people and had a lot of great friends on the tennis side. So, yeah, I think that really helped me develop as a player and kind of exposed me to what was going to be my future in terms of traveling and playing all these tournaments, dealing with stress, dealing with pressure. So, yeah, it's definitely a big thing.

5:58But I think there are some players who didn't really compete in the juniors and just kind of went straight into pro. but that's very rare. So I would love to ask you about the stress because when I see you play, well, when I see any tennis player play, I'm like, that has got to be so stressful, especially like your first time in one of the big tournaments. How do you deal with that stress? Yeah, I'd say it comes with experience. I feel like I've done it for so long now that I kind of know how to handle it, but that doesn't go without saying that I haven't worked on it and And I haven't spent hours trying to figure out, you know, tools and skills that help me in certain moments where, you know, the stress is overcoming me and it's starting to interfere with me negatively.

6:44So I've definitely spent a lot of time figuring out what works for me. And also at the same time, I think I'm someone who kind of thrives in stress and pressure. And I think that's why this career has suited me so well is because when it gets to like that point where it's all or nothing and this moment matters more than anything I feel like that's the time when I really try to challenge myself and take that as a huge opportunity to try and redeem myself of all those fears and all those thoughts kind of in the back of my head telling me like I'm not sure you can do this and like overcoming that is something that is a feeling that I love and is what drives me in this sport but it's definitely a combination of things and And some days, you know, I lose the match and I don't have the attitude I would have wanted, but it just comes with it.

7:35And I think you learn from those days. But I think it's always a learning experience and you're always learning more about yourself and how to do better. I love that because that can apply to off the court as well for anyone that's listening. Tennis has really shaped me as an individual and has helped me figure out how to deal with just day-to-day things. And when I'm struggling with something, I think there are a lot of tools that I learned when I'm playing matches that help me in stressful moments just in my normal life. Yeah, I love that. Okay, so I want to talk about something because you're very open about your mental health journey.

8:13And I have struggled on a mental health journey, as the listeners know. And I love that people are sharing their hard times because I think it helps others that are going through hard times. And so will you just walk us through like what happened? You were playing professional tennis and then you just needed a break, right? I was very open and honest about my decision and the reasoning for my break, which I don't know. I think it sparked a lot of conversations because no one in tennis had ever taken a break for their mental health. And the amount that I took was quite a long time for someone who plays tennis because we're on a schedule that's just go, go, go.

8:59And there's no stopping and we don't really have an off season. So I decided to take the rest of the year off when I was only in April, which was a really big deal. And normally people only do that for a physical injury. But in my case, it was for my mental health, which is just just as important as your physical health. And I cannot say that enough. But yeah, I got to the point where I just felt like no matter what, I couldn't push myself anymore. And there was no reason to because it just things just kept getting worse for myself. And I was in the lowest point of my life. There was no positivity coming out of tennis or no reason to keep going or to push through it.

9:43And at that point, I was just like, I need to make this choice for myself. And I felt like I was playing just for other people around me or because I was supposed to. But it did take me a very long time to come to that point where I decided to stop because I think I was feeling that way for around eight months. And it just kept getting worse and worse. But I think that was one of the biggest decisions I made purely for myself. And being in sports, you don't make a lot of decisions for yourself, which is something that we can touch base on later. But that's something I realized, like, why have I not prioritized myself more over achievements or outcomes or goals?

10:25Like, I come first and like success will only come if I prioritize myself. But that's something I learned later and throughout my break. Which is so important because that's right. Like an employee, a stay at home mom, anybody, if you can't take care of yourself, then success in that area of your life is going to be really hard to achieve. So I love that you said that. Were you dealing with like no drive, no passion for the sport or depression, anxiety? What was it? Actually in 2020 is when I started to feel a lot of things that I never really felt apart from when I was younger. I think I dealt with a bit of mental health as a kid, but I was dealing with really severe depression for a long time and also a combination with anxiety, which I think comes naturally with my career and my lifestyle.

11:15So it was a combination of the two, but it was very severe where I really needed help and I was getting help. Like in 2020, I started seeing a psychologist, but it just wasn't enough. And I think I never really got to the root cause of it or figured out a therapy that works for me until my break, which is when I started a therapy called DBT. It focuses on trauma therapy, which is something that I really needed to do and has changed my life completely. And so would you say that trauma was the root cause of your depression? I think so. Yeah, I think there were a lot of root things deep inside of me that I never resolved or I was not really aware of.

11:57Like I didn't really think that I had gone through trauma. But once I started therapy and I started opening up, I realized that I had a very difficult and unstable childhood that, you know, kind of caused all these things later in my life. And you see that often with trauma therapy. I researched and read a lot about it that sometimes in your 20s, it just starts manifesting and you get a lot of, you know, side effects or start dealing with certain things that you weren't expecting. because for me, it was really surprising because everything was so good in my life. And I was ranked around 30 when I decided to take my break.

12:32And like, I have everything I could ever ask for, which also made me feel very guilty about what I was going through, because I knew how privileged I was and am and how good I have it. And I have my family, I have like a great support system around me. So it was really confusing and something that was difficult to accept or fathom, like, why am I going through this? But then as I started uncovering it and being more patient and accepting with myself that I realized like the reasons for it. I'm so curious when you told like your coaches and your agent or whoever that you wanted to take a break, were they on board with it?

13:10Or was it something you had to battle people on? I mean, everyone around me kind of saw how I was feeling or they knew that it wasn't really me that would show up. And they saw that I was struggling and dealing with things. And I wasn't my happiest in any way, shape or form. And I wasn't super motivated. So they were kind of aware of my state. So it wasn't a shock in any way when I had finally come to the decision that that's it. Like I'm seriously going to do this because I had talked about it a little bit here and there, but never really pulled the trigger on it or decided to really stop. I would just kind of say it after finishing a tournament or losing, but then in the next few days, I would just start training again.

13:56So when I did make the decision, my team was actually very understanding. They were, of course, disappointed as anyone would be because, I mean, the goal is to play and keep going, but they were supportive of my decision and they completely understood it. And then my family also, they were understanding of the situation as well. And they just tried to support me in any way they could. And yeah, I really appreciated that. And I'm curious, was the media supportive of a mental health break or no? Surprisingly, I got so much positive feedback and I wasn't sure what I was expecting. I'm kind of someone that I'll just be honest, whether I think I'm going to get positive feedback or backlash, like, I'd rather be true to myself and honest.

14:43So I didn't really care or think too much about it. But I got a lot of really nice responses. And I think it made a lot of people kind of feel like they could relate or I don't know, like something is there's like this shift in the narrative of you can speak your truth, what you're dealing with. And then later down the line, I also have a lot of interactions now where people still talk to me or share their story with me and say that they could relate to what I went through. Because I mean, mental health is something that I think each human and each individual deals with in their own way. And all of our struggles are equally difficult.

15:19But yeah, I think that's the best part about it all is that there are people who follow my journey and that can relate to me. And when I meet people in person, and they say that they're a huge fan of mine and they watch me, but also because of my story and that they can relate to me in a way that they can't with others is something that is really meaningful and special to me. Well, one, I'm glad the media was supportive of it. I feel like they have taken a turn in the past few years of being supportive of mental health. But two, congrats to you because admitting that you need help mentally is not easy.

15:55Like there's a lot of people that criticize that still aren't understanding of it still. And so I love that you did that. And like you said, like your fans love you for it because it makes you real, but you also are an example to them of like, yeah, I had to take care of myself first. I had to take a break. That's what you guys all need to do that are dealing with mental health issues, you know? Yeah. Thank you for saying that. So I think it's amazing. I'm curious before this break, when you were dealing with mental health, Were you concerned about like food and nutrition and things like that?

16:28Or did that come after the break or during the break? Well, that's like a tough one for me because when I was a teenager, actually, I struggled with food and I was really skinny as a teenager. But I think a lot of people just thought that that was my body type. But I would restrict and under fuel myself a lot. And then when I was going through depression and dealing with my mental health, I kind of stopped caring about that as much because I had other things that I was dealing with. So I kind of didn't really put too much emphasis on my nutrition and fueling because, as you know, when you're going through depression, like, you just don't have the energy.

17:09I mean, you don't really take care of yourself as much. So for sure, for a couple of years, I just wasn't the best athlete I could be. That's for sure. And it's not a surprise. But once I decided to come back from my break and I had worked a lot on myself and tried to change a lot of bad habits and create new ones that would serve me and help me and take care of myself more, then I really started focusing on nutrition again and how to fuel my best. I always thought this and I still think this like is focusing on whole foods and eating as clean as you can, especially in today's world. Like I'm still shocked that people like grab the most processed things or extremely processed snacks.

17:54And that's just normal in our culture. And it's sometimes even deemed as healthy. And it shocks me because the ingredient list is so long and there's so many chemicals that I don't even know what this is. and they scare me. But everyone is just neutral to it. And it's extremely normalized. But I always thought that no, like, sticking to a whole foods diet is the way to go. And the cleaner, the better and the better you'll feel. So do you feel a difference, like really focusing on your nutrition and whole foods versus when you didn't? Yeah, like I'm a big believer on gut health. And because I have someone who struggled with digestive issues and I really try to take care of my gut health and eat as clean as I can.

18:38So for me, I definitely feel a difference when I'm fueling myself with clean ingredients when it comes to my sleep and especially my recovery, how my body feels the next day when I wake up and I've had a long day of training and I still feel pretty fresh and ready to go again. So I definitely feel a major difference, but I'm really big on supplements and clean proteins and yeah, just feeling my best. Yeah, that's awesome. Good for you. Good for you for knowing. I'm curious, do you have like a food routine that you want to do pre-match and recovery? Like certain things you want to fuel your body with?

19:16Yeah, when it comes to what I eat or my routines, they're quite boring because it's almost the same thing every day. Whether I'm training or I'm in tournaments. I'm someone who's really big on routine around food. I really like to stick to the same thing almost every day because then I don't have to think too much about it. And I'm comfortable knowing that I'm going to feel good after this, but I really try to stick to really the same thing. And yeah, especially recovering after a match is super important. So fuel, I always have a protein shape in tournaments after every single match. And then yeah, recovering is is doing my treatments and having a good meal.

19:56What does recovery look like? What are the treatments? So I travel with a physical therapist who is amazing. She does wonders for my body and keeps me healthy and injury free. So after I'm done with my tennis match, sometimes we finish really, really late. And I won't get to bed around up until 2am. Oh, wow. Yeah, there was even a match last year, I think it was after my US Open semifinal, because I finished around 1am. And I went to bed at four, because I, I just can't skip out on my treatments. And I need to make sure that I do everything. And sleep is just as important. But it's just sometimes you just try to squeeze everything in as much as you can.

20:41But once I'm done with my my match, I go straight to the gym. I go on the bike for a bit, then stretch. And then if I've had a pretty long match or it's really hot, I'll do an ice bath, which I've done pretty religiously. And I've spoken a lot about that as I find it very helpful and helps with my recovery a lot. And while I'm doing all of that, I'll probably be done with my protein shake by then, which is really important for my recovery and my muscles and just refueling those glycogen stores. and then I'll shower, do my media, and then I'll do about two hours of treatment. Sometimes three, depends how my body's feeling, but it's really important.

21:22So like massaging out or things like that in those two hours? Yeah. It's sort of like massage, but it's really just working on all the muscles and mobility. It's not really like massage. I wish it felt as good. It hurts quite a bit, but it gets the job done. Makes sense. So I'm curious, a protein shake, are you adding stuff to your protein shake or just drinking a just ingredients protein shake? Or what do you put in it? Yeah, I bring my just ingredients. Sometimes I'll just mix it with water. If I'm feeling like it, I'll mix it with some soy milk or something. But I love the way it tastes. And I struggled with that in the past because my physio and other people on my team would always want me to have a protein shake after my match but I always had a hard time finding something that was clean enough or tasted good enough because they normally taste like chalky or off but the ones that I use now with just ingredients taste amazing like I I said this to my physio I was like oh my god like did you put anything else in this because it literally tastes like a chocolate milkshake and I'm not like I swear on my life like I'm not just saying that like it really does taste that good and it's super clean So yeah, I finally found a protein powder that works for me.

22:36Well, thank you. I love that. I love that you love it. We'll have to send you some of our new flavors. We have some new flavors that just came out. So there's a really good cookies and cream one that does not have the junk of cookies and cream in it. It's all just nourishing ingredients. So I'm curious, do you find more athletes going this route of eating healthier these days? Or are there still a bunch of athletes that just don't care what they eat? I think that's a hard question to answer because I think it's different for everybody. At the tournaments, there are a lot of healthy options, which I'm very thankful for and very privileged to play these incredible tournaments and like the Grand Slams.

23:14They treat us very well and there's always lots of options. but I've always pretty much been someone who eats super, super healthy and try to eat as clean as I can. So sometimes I'll see other tennis players and I'm like, how, how do they eat? And then they still look like so fit. And then they're out like playing such long matches, but like, I'm a true believer. And if you do eat unhealthy, like it'll catch up to you eventually. It doesn't even matter how you look, but you could also put yourself at risk for injury or just a bunch of things that could go wrong with eating in a way that's not helpful in any way, especially as a top athlete.

23:52But I still think that there are obviously a lot of athletes who really focus on nutrition. And, you know, there's a lot of data and studies coming out, not just in nutrition, but in the whole recovery world of how to be the best athlete you can be. So it's getting extremely competitive. And I feel like everyone is getting more and more physically fit. So I'm sure everyone is starting to dial down on the nutrition side and taking it more seriously. So I wouldn't be surprised if, yeah, everyone is trying to take it more seriously. Yeah. I feel like everybody wants to feel better so that they can play the game better.

24:26But then for longevity is what we find from a lot of athletes coming our way. They're like, oh, we're approaching 38 or whatever, you know, different ages for different sports. But they're like, we just want to play two, three, five more years. We've got to take care of our body. We've learned that we've got to eat better. So I think people are wakening up to it. Yeah. And for me, it's like super important about how I'm going to feel after I'm done with my career. I don't want to just feel good enough while I'm playing, but also be healthy enough to enjoy my life afterwards because tennis does take such a toll on our bodies and I don't want to deal with any, any difficult things afterwards.

25:05So for me, just staying as healthy as I can and eating clean is super important. What does a mental game look like for you? Do you like tell yourself certain things? Do you have certain affirmations you have to say? Does it play a role in your game at all? Yeah, I talk to myself quite a lot in my head when I'm playing or even out loud. I'm definitely known to be more of an expressive tennis player. I have my reactions here and there, but it's a way to get my emotions out and kind of reset in a way for the next point. But for me, I'm very big on the reset part and how to make sure, okay, I can let go of a bad point or a bad string of games.

25:45And even if I'm down, but it's like, okay, how am I going to turn this around? And it's definitely something that I've struggled a lot in the past with. And I'm sure all tennis players do because you're out there and it's an individual sport. So you're alone and you have to really problem solve very quickly on your feet. And positive self-talk is the most important thing you can do because I've seen how my negative self-talk just completely beats me down. And there are so many matches I've lost where I just lost to myself. I didn't even lose to my opponent. It's because I beat myself down. And it's something that I really learned from.

26:21And it's like, oh, my gosh, how can I change this? and yeah the positive self-talk kind of having those phrases that I go to or just being extremely self-aware which is something that I try to train in practices is when I feel those emotions arising or those thoughts coming and the ones that don't serve me is how can I filter that out and kind of reset for the next point so I'll have my things whether it's take deep three deep breaths and then go back to the line and start the point again or tell yourself okay how can I recover this game But now I'm getting boring, but it's just like, it's just very like quick little things because we don't have much time in between point.

27:01They could be really crucial in turning a match around. Well, I love that though, because it again applies to life because sometimes three breaths does reset it for people. And I love that you're saying, yeah, I have to reset. I'm not going to go dwell on the past. I've got to move forward. And I'm like, that's actually all of us in life, like staying at home at an employment, you know, whatever we're doing in life, like a lot of times, like quit worrying about the past. Let's move forward. What are we going to do to move forward? And I love that. That's what you focus on. easier said than done.