"And now I’m here": Dinara Safina opens up about dealing with 'depression' and 'eating disorder' before becoming Diana Shnaider's coach

Former world number one Dinara Safina has opened up about the problems she faced before becoming a coach. The 39-year-old recently joined fellow countrywoman Diana Shnaider as her new coach. Their agreement is set to last till the end of the clay season.

Safina, who is the sister of the former men’s world number one Marat Safin, has spoken to WTA’s official website where she stated that she went through a lot of things before becoming a coach. The Moscow-born star stated that she had to battle with things like eating disorder and depression.

“I went through a lot of things,” she said. “I never spoke like loudly about this. I gained a lot of weight and I was struggling with binge eating disorder. I had it for quite a long time. Ups and downs. Depressions, struggling with it. I couldn’t find myself. Slowly, I started to get out of there. And now I’m here.”

On the other hand, Safina also talked about the experience of working with a younger player with qualities of Shnaider, but this time as a coach. “I don’t know if it helps her, doesn’t help -- looks like sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t,” said Safina. “Sometimes she listens, sometimes she doesn’t listen.Not a kid, come on,” Safina said. “We have to be honest. It’s an adult like this. Slowly, she has to grow up and become a woman to be a little more disciplined.”

Safina became world number one in 2009 after impressive performances. Despite becoming the best player in the women’s singles category, the 38-year-old, interestingly, never won a Grand Slam in her professional career. Her best outing was finishing as a runner-up, which she did on three occasions. French Open in 2009 was the latest time Safina finished as a runner-up at a Grand Slam, where she lost to fellow countrywoman Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final in straight sets with a score of 6-4, 6-2.