Alexandra Dulgheru: How art is helping without tennis in lockdown

The 31-year-old Romanian was on the cusp of mounting a comeback from surgery just as the Covid-19 pandemic struck, ruling her out of competitive tennis while the whole world, including tennis - negotiated the crisis.

For lockdown, Dulgheru has been located just outside Bucharest, trying to prepare herself for her eventual return and to keep herself occupied during a period of enforced inactivity. She remains worried about the risks posed by the continuing pandemic.

“The number of cases are rising, people are still getting sick. I’m afraid a second wave is going to come. They could stop everything we’re starting to do and we’ll have to go back to something of a quarantine," she said.

Wimbledon was one of the first major events of the 2020 sporting calendar to be cancelled, and Dulgheru is surprised by the response of the British government compared to other countries. By some metrics Britain has experienced the harshest impact from the virus, and Dulgheru says, “I have some friends there in England and they’ve been telling me. I’m watching the news and I’m a bit surprised that a big country like the UK didn’t take precautions earlier. They’re still not taking precautions.”

Her worries over the state of the response to Covid-19 and its potential resurgence is perhaps doubly understandable as you realise what is at stake for her career. Dulgheru’s absence from competitive tennis could ultimately stretch to a year and a half. She is making her way back from her fourth knee surgery, so any further interruption to her time on the court must be especially frustrating.

“I was fit in April. I was going to start playing some small tournaments and that’s when the pandemic hit, when they started closing borders.”

The break means that she may now return in September, with the US part of the tour unsuitable for her recovery.

“I don’t think I’m going to go to the US, even if it wasn’t the pandemic. I wanted to protect my knees a little bit. To start on a hard court is harsh, so I think I will probably start with Europe in September.”

Nevertheless, she concedes that an extended break may ultimately serve her well. Such are the stresses and strains of being a professional athlete that the demands to catch up with her battle-hardened peers may have made for an extra challenge. Now she has been afforded a chance to see her rivals lose some of their own intensity.

“On one side I wasn’t happy to stop in April. I was 80% ready to compete, but I was going to go straight back into the fire with girls who had played continuously. Now, we’re at the same level. It gives me peace of mind, but it doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy.

“My body held me back. It’s a paradox because I’m fit usually, but I have problems in my joints. Muscle-wise I’m very good, my body can handle the pressure.

“But I’ve been away a year and half almost. One, two three, four months is OK to think about something else, but a year and a half is too much.”

Dulgheru has developed a passion for painting, and her absence through injury has allowed her to spend time on her hobby. The year's absence has perhaps been more tolerable because she has a second outlet.

“I like Picasso, Rembrandt, classicists, neo-classicists. When there’s a very good painting, you can feel it. It doesn’t matter who the painter is. If it’s something that gives you that feeling, that’s what matters,” she explains.

“I saw some of Picasso’s artwork and there was this painting where it literally felt like a photograph put there on the wall. I mean, the details of the hair. It was a painting of a girl with her back, you couldn’t see her face. Every detail was painted, every strand of hair. I almost touched it, I wanted to see if it was real.”

At 31, Dulgheru has a few years left in professional tennis, perhaps more if she can maintain her fitness and commitment, but despite being in the second half of her career she does not expect to ditch tennis completely for art, as it is something that has developed alongside her career and does not threaten to replace it. After more than a decade in the sport there may be no way to leave it, nor a desire to ever let go.

“I think that painting, the drawing, is still going to be a hobby. If I hadn’t played tennis I would probably have gone into architecture or interior design. But if I want to be an architect it’s going to take four or five years of study. After all this effort, I don’t think I have the energy to start over.

“So I will remain in tennis somehow. I consider myself a player now, but I’m curious about trying out coaching, maybe working for the WTA somehow or commentating. I did some commentating in Romania, and it seems like having these experiences as a player - I’ve lived so many moments - it’s so cool to share it with people.

“Sometimes you’re stressed out and think, 'I don’t want to think about tennis anymore,’ and that actually happens a few times a year. But you have that microbe in your blood called tennis, you can’t be away from it for too long.”

While Dulgheru’s absence is longer than most other players going through the coronavirus restrictions, the WTA has acted to introduce the WTA university, allowing players to access resources and conferences to further their development while they have been unable to train as usual.

Dulgheru believes that, “the university for me and the players who have used it, it has helped them do something else. We had a lot of time on our hands and it was pretty cool to do something else. I used the conferences on different things: financial, medical, pension, transition. It was interesting to talk to famous people in those domains, like a coach for something else in your life.

“They give us something to do and keep focused, to keep our mental health in good shape. I used a lot of meditation, yoga and tai chi sessions. The brain is like a muscle, so you have to make it work for it to be productive.”

She has gone further than just using the university provided by the WTA, saying, “I’m doing a Florida University athlete development course. I think it’s really important to have people who can guide you with your money, how to spend it or not spend it. So many top players quit, and after a few years they are broke. But it’s not the players’ fault.

“When you are competing, you are 100% paying attention to what you do. If you start thinking about planning to use your money, you can’t have your mind in many places or you’re not productive on the tennis court.”

She understands the importance of financial literacy for athletes. So far in her career, Dulgheru has won in excess of $2 million. To almost anyone, including herself, that is a sizeable figure, but she explains that the realities of tennis make that sum far from life-changing. Dulgheru explained how the headline figure from player earnings don't tell a great deal of the whole story.

“In 10 years of being on the circuit, two million dollars is not too much. In 10 years, five I was injured, so I should have won much more. It seems a lot when I think about it but I never had that amount of money in my hands.

“From that money, 30% goes to tax, 50% on expenses. Players from Eastern Europe, they don’t have sponsors that can pay for many expenses, so we sustain ourselves. Twenty to thirty percent goes into our pockets, so if you consider that over a period of 10 years, that’s not too much.”

Injuries brought into focus the precarious nature of her position. It may be that being aware of the financial difficulties associated with injuries, and a lack of sponsor at certain times, have focussed Dulgheru's mind on preparing an alternative way forward, and to be aware that the future is not certain. The pressure of having to earn in order to pay her own way, to take care of essential expenses for her career, means that every tournament carries with it greater significance.

“When I started struggling with injuries, I had to start thinking about money which was going away really fast, not even thinking about silly expenses like holidays or cars. I had to be really careful, and I could not afford the luxury of spending for my comfort.

“If over a few months you don’t have any results, that keeps you in a tension that’s not good to have. When it’s about money as an athlete, it’s really good to have people who can help you.”

At one point in her career, injuries meant that she lost her clothing sponsor as she fell down the rankings. She turned to Venus Williams, who had helped other players in a similar position, for help.

“I know how difficult it is to struggle, you have to buy everything, even clothes. Venus was super nice. I was coming back from a surgery and my ranking dropped, so I couldn’t continue my contract.

“For me and Venus, we had rivalry, we had competition. She said, ‘I don’t care, I have this brand, I want more people to see it.’ For one year I played with her clothes. They were super nice. I loved her clothes.”

Now, with lockdown ending across the world, Dulgheru is making plans to make the most of her returning years. She also made the most of her remaining time away from the stresses and strains of the court. After a six hour session on the weekend, she finally completed her latest painting, included in this article. It is clear that there is much more to come from her twin passions, art and tennis.