Before starting this project, I was unaware of just how much the Women's Tennis Association had in place to support their players' mental wellbeing as there was little mention of it in their 2019 season handbook. This seemed to be reflected in the opinions of some of the people I had spoken to for this project prior to this interview, and it seems there is a general assumption the men's tour, the ATP, will usually be ahead of the WTA as they seem to receive new innovations and tournaments first.
However, their Athlete Assistance department, headed by senior director Kathy Martin, has looked after the mental health of the WTA's players for decades, from their transitions out of the junior circuit to the pro tour all the way through to retirement and life after tennis. For the 2020 season, Kathy said in this interview for Game, Set, Mental Health that the department's name would be changing to the Mental Health Department in an effort to further break any stigmas surrounding the topic.
Speaking to Kathy and hearing about the many things her department does for the WTA players during the different stages of their careers was incredibly insightful and encouraging to see such efforts being made by the women's tour in protecting their players and attempting to prevent any difficulties before they happened.
I've been waiting until just before I publish my documentary to share the extended edit of this interview, as the WTA's procedures and assistance offered is such a standout in the sport that it deserved to be heard in full, and just before the start of the new 2020 season seemed fitting as this is the year the WTA develop this department further. In the Game, Set, Mental Health radio documentary, Kathy also speaks about the ATP and where they're at with their mental health efforts.
This interview summed up what I aimed to achieve with this project, looking deeper into the key organisations of the sport and what they had in place surrounding mental health so it could be encouraged and improved, and this is what the WTA have been doing with what is now their Mental Health Department.