Sometimes it becomes too much !

On November 25th, England’s Jonathan Trott announced that he will be taking a break from cricket due to a stress related illness. This comes in the wake of the team’s 381-run loss to Australia in the 1st Ashes test at Brisbane. "I don’t feel it is right that I’m playing knowing I’m not 100% and I cannot currently operate at the level I have reached in the past," Trott said in a statement. "My priority now is to take a break from cricket to focus on my recovery." Trott scored just 10 and 9 runs in the two innings in the test and came under heavy pressure for not being able to deal with the short pitched balls of Mitchell Johnson. Trott, who averages above 46 runs in Tests and 51 in ODIs has been suffering from the problem for some time according to the Team’s Management. Trott becomes the 3rd English cricketer to leave a tour after suffering from an illness – the other two being Marcus Trescothick in the 2005-06 India tour and the 2006-07 Ashes tour of Australia and left-arm spinner Michael Yardy in the 2011 World Cup. These incidents bring up a serious question – are sports too stressful for players to handle?
    Trott comes from a family of cricketers with his dad being a coach and cricketer Kenny Jackson as elder brother and has always seemed at ease throughout his career. He made a beautiful debut with a century against the Aussies that led England to win the test and regain the Ashes. His appetite for runs kept growing and he became consistent in producing matching winning knocks under pressure. But there were problems like dip in form and all of them came away from home. Without his family, there was no one to tell him to calm down, relax and forget the fact that it was just one match or innings. But why did the situation suddenly come up now ? Maybe it wasn’t just Mitchell Johnson. Back to back Ashes, the Champions Trophy and the weight of expectations from him might have just become too much. With the talent he possesses, he was always expected to perform well and at times, the media and public just anticipated too much from him.
    Cricket isn’t the only sport where such problems arise. Any sport where the weight of expectations on certain players are above a certain limit can cause such problems. Take Tennis for example, the greatest tennis player Roger Federer still has problems countering Rafael Nadal. Federer who had decimated almost all the players of his era with ease, came against a mind road-block in Rafa. Even though Rafa initially only had the edge on clay courts, the repeated defeats got to Federer so much that he started playing differently against Nadal and even broke down after his defeat in the final of the Australian Open 2009. Another example is Andy Murray. Expected to bring glory to England by being the 1st English player since Fred Perry, Murray had to live with the burden ever since he made his presence on the tennis court. Like Federer, Murray was brought down to tears after his loss to Roger in the Wimbledon Final of 2012. Such incidents bring out the true picture of players and show us how much the sport means to them. Throughout the year, they are expected to perform well and are scrutinized at every slip they make.
    One of the major factors for some of these problems is the media. They create rumors, criticize players on every mistake they commit and sometimes go off limits by bringing in the personal lives of the players into the professional front. The best example of this is Tiger Woods. After dominating Golf for such a long time (holds the record for having Won at least one World Golf Championships event every year from 1999 to 2009), Woods’ game got so deteriorated after the news of his scandals got out. Just imagine this, a player who won 14 Majors between 1997 and 2008 hasn’t been able to win one after the news of his scandal broke out. Another factor is the amount of sledging that happens on the pitch/court. Australia’s David Warner had a few words at Trott during the test, and even went to the extent of saying during an interview that he saw fear in Trott’s eyes during the test and that he thought Trott dismissal was “pretty poor and weak”. When a sport played for fun and enjoyment turns into such wars, the pressure and stress on players are naturally going to peak. 
What can be done to prevent all this? I believe it starts with the media. Stop bringing up the personal lives of players into the picture. Give them space and analyze their on the court play rather than running gossip mills. Secondly, players need to remember why they play the sport and respect the individuals on the other side. Teammates can support each other through difficult times and provide the much needed encouragement especially when they are away from their families. Though all these might not seem feasible right now, I feel steps should be taken by the teams’ management to ensure the above steps and that the players get the freedom to play the sport we all love with the right attitude.