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Dusan Lajovic has opened up on his mental health journey, revealing that he has been grappling with bouts of OCD, anxiety and depression.
Incidentally, the 32-year-old is coming off one of the best weeks of his tennis career, winning the title in Banja Luka. Lajovic beat his good friend and World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the inaugural Srpska Open quarterfinal before beating Miomir Kecmanovic, another compatriot, in the last four.
In his first ATP Tour final in four years, Lajovic beat second seed Andrey Rublev in three sets on Sunday to reign supreme at the ATP 250 event.
In an interview with CLAY, the Banja Luka champion discussed his struggle with mental health issues over the years,
“I got into a loop of being mentally in a bad place. I had depressing feelings, anxiety and OCD. I’m finally staring to get on my feet again," Lajovic said.
The 32-year-old shared that he has been engaging with psychotherapy, something he says he should have started years ago.
I’m working a lot now in psychotherapy. I started a couple of months ago because I’ve been dealing with a lot lately, like anxiety, OCD, and depressing feelings. That influenced a lot when I was on the court. In tennis, you need to fix all the things to perform well. I’m trying to improve myself," he said.
Lajovic added that that he sees the psychotherpy as a part of his training regime.
"I see this as a therapy, but also as a training as well. Is something I want to do until the end of my life regardless if I’m playing tennis or not. It is so important, especially after all the things the world has gone through. First, you need to accept this kind of things, and then you can get on a journey to fixing them. I’m on that journey now," the Serb said.
Following his triumph in Banja Luka, Dusan Lajovic is now sixth in the ATP race to Turin and is back in the top 40 of the singles rankings.
"I'm slowly starting to talk about these things" - Dusan Lajovic
As one of the few professional athletes to open up about their mental health struggles, Dusan Lajovic doesn't want others to go through what he has, stating that he wants his experience to help others.
"I’m slowly starting to talk about these things. I think is good. If I feel my personal case can help at least one person, I should speak about it. I want to show to people that there are always solutions," Lajovic said. "Is gonna be a big part of myself in the future because I’m someone who is very much internal, I overthink a lot, so sometime I could produce anxiety for things that hasn’t happen yet. Not productive in tennis, not in life in general."
Dusan Lajovic is now 14-7 on the season following his triumph in Banja Luka. He takes on Jason Kubler in the opening round of the Madrid Masters on Thursday, April 27.
