Noah Rubin’s “Behind The Racquet” with Sara Errani • Tennis | 10sBalls

By TennisBalls Staff
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Updated: November 11, 2021

Editor’s note: 10sBalls thanks Noah Rubin for giving us permission to repost these great stories.

“Sometimes I think, “Why am I still doing this? It’s really tough, maybe I should stop.” I’m not 20 years old anymore, but not many times I’ve thought about that. I was more like “I want to go through this thing. I think the only way is pass through tough moments, face them, not run away from them.”

I had a very tough period of time last year where I couldn’t really enjoy playing because it was like playing’ with a ghost in my mind that was tough to manage. It was not easy. I fought a lot and I thought I could pass it — I’m here for that. I’m here because I really love tennis. I love playing and I want to have a good sensation playing on the court.

[The drug tests] were really dark because I got through many things that were unbelievable, almost impossible to describe. They gave me two months the first time. Even there, it was incredible because I knew I didn’t do nothing. After that, I started again from 208 in the world. In a few months, I already went again in the top 100.

My own country was against me. The ITF, they gave me the two months sanction and the Italian anti-doping organization said, “No, it’s not good. You had to give more to her.” It never happened in history. They wait seven months before deciding something. Seven times during these months , they told me, “Okay, in 10 days, we’ll give you a response,” and they didn’t.

I played six, seven months with this on my mind. After that, they decide to stop me for 8 more months. It was unbelievable because I went again in the top 100 and they stopped me again. It was really, really tough to wait — to know inside of you that you did nothing. After that, I had to start again from the beginning.

Now, I’m happy. We are in a tough moment right now. There are not many tournaments and I’m very proud to pass qualies in Dubai and go to Australia for one month. It was really good for me, because here in Europe, there are only a few tournaments and not a lot for womens.. Now, I’m outside of 100. I’m 106 and I’m happy about that. It’s not really the number by itself, the ranking that is important. I just want to feel great on the court.”

Sara Errani (@saraerrani87)