"No athlete is going to talk about it because it is seen as a weakness" - Rennae Stubbs speaks on tennis players' mental health struggles

Retired Australian tennis player Rennae Stubbs recently discussed mental health struggles in tennis as a guest on a television show.

Stubbs spoke to MSNBC's Nicole Wallace on Deadline: White House's special report on America's mental health emergency. The former doubles World No. 1 said that as a former player and now a coach, she has witnessed how athletes are hesitant to openly speak about their mental troubles because they see it as a form of weakness.

"Everybody has something and often, those are things you don't talk about or you don't hear about. And no athlete is going to talk about the vulnerabilities because that is seen as a weakness," said Stubbs.

Stubbs honored the positive impact of Olympian skier Lindsay Vonn's openness about her mental health and said that it is important that conversations about mental well-being continue because it is a widespread issue.

"Just like men don't talk about these problems because they see it as a weakness. So it's super important that everybody keeps talking about it. And it is an issue," added Stubbs.

Given that Stubbs has been involved in tennis since debuting in doubles in an ITF event in Sydney in 1986 and continues to be associated with the sport as a coach and commentator, the Aussie has personally seen the struggles tennis players face. She added that physical health problems have been talked about more often than the mental health ones.

"Being on the tennis tour as long as I was, I saw a lot of people really struggling. We talk about the physical injuries, but not a lot talk about the mental side of the sport," she concluded.