Former WTA player Rebecca Marino, who cited depression as the reason for her retirement, is now attending college, and has taken up competitive rowing.
She says she’s "really great," and has no plans to return to the tour.
"It's been a while since I've had a bad day," she told The Canadian Press. "I honestly can say I'm a different person. That's why I stepped away from tennis—to find myself and work on my mental and physical well-being."
The then-22-year-old retired in 2013, having been as high as No. 38 in the rankings. She took a break for psychological reasons and returned with little desire to keep playing.
Looking back, she does not question that decision.
"I'm pretty comfortable with how things went," said Marino, who found traveling and social-media attacks particularly difficult to deal with … I'm doing things I love now. I wouldn't change it."
According to The Canadian Press, she was recruited by the rowing coach at the University of British Columbia. Though the ideas of dawn practices and intense physical effort made her reluctant at first, Marino's family history eventually convinced her. (Her uncle won a gold medal in rowing at the Olympics, and her brother also rows in college.) She is now a contender for a spot on the university’s top rowing team, and she added that she likes being part of a team.
Marino has not completely left tennis behind, though. She’s begun coaching kids at the university tennis center.
"It's fun to see them learning at the beginning, where I was," she said.
Meanwhile, teenage prodigy Ash Barty is going in the other direction. After hanging up her racquet, she’s currently making a comeback following a stint as a professional cricket player in Australia.
The three-time Grand Slam doubles finalist, now 19, returned two months ago in doubles and has won three of the five International Tennis Federation Pro Circuit events that she has played.
Barty delayed a planned singles comeback and has been training with her coach in Melbourne. She’s aiming to compete in singles events during the grass-court season.
“Ash has been driving this and doing this at her own pace,” Tennis Australia’s Nicole Pratt, who is in charge of women’s tennis, said. “She’s been putting in the work to make a go of her tennis, and [her coach has] engaged her own fitness trainer privately.”
Barty took an indefinite break from the game a year ago, and found that she liked the camaraderie of being on a cricket team. But she took part in some friendly hitting sessions with other Australian players around the Australian Open and decided to return to tennis.
“I’ve seen her being more confident in being around other people," said Pratt, "and that’s great."