One of my best friends on the tour is Zuzana Zlochová. Those who read the article that I dedicated to this topic, already know how rare friendship, in the true sense of the word, is formed between players.

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Photo 1: Together with Zuzana, somewhere in Germany, heading to a team match

So, I value every real friend that I have and Zuzana is one of them. 

The feeling is mutual, a proof being that she read all my articles, at first with google translate and more recently, the English version of the blog.
We discussed several times in writing about the topics that I addressed and so I got the idea to invite her. In this way you will get to know also her opinion about all of this. 

Thus, this will be the first article of a new category on the “Court Chronicles”, named “Talking to my Tour Colleagues”. 

Born in the historical town Bojnice, in central Slovakia, Zuzana turned 33 on January 24th and has won 14 ITF titles in Singles and 15 in Doubles.
She was also present on the draws of several WTA 125 tournaments, in both events, and reached Career High Ranking in Singles of 263 WTA / 2013 and 281 WTA / 2014, in Doubles.

About her beginnings in tennis, Zuzana narrates:

My dad had a friend whose daughter was playing tennis, so one day he came home and offered me to try it as well. Back then, I was 5 years old and that’s how I ended up on the court.
I fell in love with this sport from the beginning. I liked to travel with my colleagues to the tennis tournaments and I loved playing them. So much, that I remember with nostalgy that I was not upset when I lost.
Gradually, this innocence disappeared, because of the pressure, but I loved the game just as much.

Next, my friend talks about the support that she didn’t receive at the beginning of her career:

At the age of 16, I started playing international tournaments and it was very difficult for me, because I had no support from the Slovak Federation, as many other players from our country didn’t. So, I played  tournaments close to home, in Czech Republic, Hungary or Poland. I went by train, by bus or with friends, with whom I shared the costs of the trips.
From the age of 17, I started traveling with Jozef Kraus, my coach, together with a group of other players.
He and his family have helped me throughout my career, and without their support I wouldn’t have been able to get this far. Because I needed to earn money, I chose to leave the juniors tour behind me and to play in $10,000 tournaments.
Financial prizes became my only sources of income and those were insufficient to cover my costs. But with the help of my coach, we managed to find solutions to chase my dream.
Here is my advice for my younger colleagues:
If they love tennis and competition, they should not give up, but do everything possible to stay on the tour, no matter how hard it is, because eventually they will find the right path.

Zuzana continues with the financial topic, this time related to travel. In this matter too, her experiences were similar to mine:

Since I did not receive any support from the ITF – I hope that in the future many more players will be able to live from the sport that they practice, not to lose money – I had to make all kinds of sacrifices.
Together with my coach, we were accommodated in the cheapest hostels, Airbnbs, but also at “host families”, where we stayed for free and where we met people from all walks of life and various professions.
This way I learned precious life lessons and that’s why I always preferred this type of accommodation, when it was available.

Zuzana has always wanted to go to Australia. Jokingly she says in order to check if people are walking there upside down, and on a serious note, because she had a special fascination for that country.
After a first experience of only two weeks, which was unsuccessful, she and Jozef prepared the second trip better and chose the cheapest, but also most ingenious, option:

Since we couldn’t find a hotel under 100 dollars a night, we rented a camper van. This one was also expensive for us, although we chose the cheapest one.
Another time when we came back to Australia, we bought a car because it was more affordable and we could use it every time we were back there. Gradually we had to repair every component of the car, so if someone needs a mechanic apprentice, they can rely on me, because I know the names of every sub-assembly and every part.
But this is how I had the financial resources to travel all over Australia, from Brisbane to Perth to Melbourne and back to Brisbane.
I managed to see a good part of Australia and I fell in love with this country, but also with its inhabitants. Everywhere I met wonderful, warm, welcoming, relaxed people. They wanted to get to know us, so did we, and that’s how we made friendships that last even now.

This experience – similar to mine in the USA – taught Zuzana that if you really want to stay on the tour, you find solutions or as we say, to make money from thin air, so you can travel from a tournament to another.
She adds:

Sure, you don’t have the luxury of a 5-star hotel, but the life lessons, that the more difficult conditions are offering, are also useful on the court, because they teach you to understand that nothing is granted and that you have to fight in order to get something.

My Slovakian friend was not often injured, on the contrary, she had long periods when she was physically fit.
However, she believes that even injuries strengthen your character and after you heal, you come back stronger.
Now she is also injured, she hasn’t played since April, because of an epicondylitis or “tennis player’s elbow”.

She admires the mental strength of those who are absent from the circuit for a long time, only to re-enter, get injured again and so on.

Zuzana approaches the subject of retirement in the most positive way possible:

I am very close to that moment, although only about two years ago, I was attending a  tournament and a fan asked me how old I am. I answered 31 and he insisted: “13?”. He couldn’t believe it, so I sent him to an ophthalmologist.
Even now, I’m always near the courts, so I don’t miss the tournaments so much. I’m not depressed, but I still have the urge to come back and give it another try. But the competition has become more and more fierce and I feel that I have other things to do in life.
I made a bucket list and I can’t wait to check those goals.
So, I’m trying to take the positive from the retirement, which is, after all, the most painful event in the life of an athlete.

This is how the player from Slovakia evaluates her career now, at the end of the journey:

Even if I didn’t make it to top 100, I’m proud of what I achieved, proud that I rarely had dark thoughts during this turmoil, that physically I resisted very well.
Despite all the difficulties, I played a lot, got to know the world and made a lot of friends with whom I still write, talk and consult. I consider many of them, family members. I believe this is the most valuable thing that I have acquired over the years on the tour.