Just a few short months ago, Simon Carr took time out of his busy schedule to chat to RTÉ Sport ahead of an exciting opportunity for Irish tennis to showcase itself.
Ireland was about to play a home Davis Cup tie for the first time in nine years and the Mullingar native was a key part of Conor Niland’s five-strong squad that would face a highly-fancied Austria at Limerick’s UL Sports Arena on the first weekend of February.
Fast-forward three months and RTÉ Sport is catching up with Carr again but in very different circumstances.
This time, it’s about closing a huge chapter in his life and looking forward to opening new pages after announcing his retirement from professional tennis at the age of 24 this week.
The decision was long in the making and one that he ruminated over amid injury setbacks before ultimately making the curtain call.
“It was a long, long drawn out process. To pinpoint one exact moment is difficult,” says Carr.
“There’s a lot of times where you question yourself and those became, I suppose, more regular throughout the last couple of years.
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“Obviously I had quite a few struggles with my body. I had a lower back fracture, a few torn hamstrings, hip problems, impingements in both hips, so I didn’t really have the rub of the luck body-wise and those sorts of things take their toll over time.”
The solitary nature of the sport coupled with the uncompromising travel schedule to far flung locales on the ATP Challenger Tours and ITF World Tennis Tour proved exacerbating factors over those last 24-30 months.
“A lot of time alone really. The lifestyle is very difficult and it became quite unsustainable for me after a certain period of time,” Carr explained.
“A lot of airports, a lot of hotels – alone which is the worst part. It’s part and parcel to travel as a professional athlete but taking all those trips, playing all these matches and travelling to all these places on your own, there was a lot of time to think, a lot of time to get yourself into some negative places and I think by the end of things, it had just worn me down.
“There are a huge amount of things I will miss about professional tennis. The amount of things it has given me has been unquantifiable and things I won’t miss i.e. the travelling, the time alone, the time in isolation but I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
Some of the positives were the friendships gained on tour among fellow pros from around the planet and the sense of purpose being a professional athlete has given him.
But for all those navigating the Challenger and Futures tournaments, there is a huge challenge in trying to remain self-sustainable given the expense of travelling from place to place – Carr has played everywhere from Belgium to Uganda and Mexico to India and plenty of other places in between – as well as the relatively small amount of prize money.
One of Carr’s career highlights in a pro journey that saw him rise to number 512 just before the Covid-19 pandemic hit was winning a $15,000 tournament in Tabarka, Tunisia in April 2019.
That total prize money was spread out among the 32 players in the main draw, incrementally rising per round, meaning the financial return for success was fractional.
For example, winning a slightly more lucrative $25,000 tournament would only gain the overall winner approximately £3,500 (€3,250).
“I definitely just about broke even for the (Tunisia) trip probably because I did a three-week trip,” says Carr.
“Look, it comes with the territory. It’s the bottom rung of professional tennis, Futures, and that’s part and parcel of trying to work your way up.
“All the players you see on the TV start there so you have to start somewhere and yeah, they’re tricky places to be because these conditions at these events, they’re very difficult.
“I’ve played in some crazy conditions in some of these places but there are a lot of great players in these Futures and they all come up through them so it’s a bit of a jungle in there and it’s difficult to get yourselves out of them and I suppose that’s the challenge that all professional players face.
“It’s a tough lifestyle but there’s some amazingly rewarding experiences in there. Because the stakes are so high in your own head, there’s nothing like coming through a big match or a match that was a bit of a mental block for you. There’s no greater high and no greater feeling.”
The support of his parents and siblings on that journey has been invaluable. His mother had introduced him to tennis aged nine and his father, former All-Ireland winning Dublin footballer Tommy Carr was instrumental when it came to helping with strength and conditioning work.
“It was such a family effort. They were the ones throughout the whole journey, texting after every match, phone calls in the evenings, all of that sort of thing and I will be forever grateful for the support that they’ve given me and hopefully I can return it in some way shape or form in the future,” he says.
As for what’s next, Carr has an eye on the world of business having taken up a part-time open learning course at UCD between 2019 and 2022 and then supplementing that with a business degree at the university and an internship at Carr Golf who have supported him through the last few months as he balanced February’s Davis Cup tie with a new life away from the court.
And in regard to the future health of Irish tennis, Carr is aiming to remain involved in some capacity and is optimistic about the upcoming generation, namely his Davis Cup team-mate Michael Agwi who has been making a mark in recent weeks.
“I have been following Michael Agwi, who’s been doing incredibly well. He’s got so much potential, he’s an incredible athlete and I really hope he gets the support he deserves and he can push on to do some great things.
“He’s a really nice fella and I wish him all the best. There’s a few other lads out there. Oscar (Ó hOisín) is still playing away and doing well. He had a good win there this week.
“So I’ve been keeping track of a few young lads coming up as well. Conor Gannon is playing well and has a lot of potential, so I’ll be keeping a close eye and will help out any way I can.”
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