 |
| |
|
 |
 |
 |
Visiting with a former golden girl Bassett reveals battle with eating disordersPosted: Tuesday November 06, 2001 10:22 AMUpdated: Wednesday December 05, 2001 5:44 PM
Carling Bassett was the Anna Kournikova of the 1980s, a player of considerable talent but one whose popularity was based as much on her looks as her tennis. Male fans were reduced to cat-calling construction workers when she played. Sponsors, tournaments and the women's tour had no reservations about promoting her ahead of higher ranked but less pulchritudinous players. There's even an odd numerological symmetry: Kournikova and Bassett share a career-high ranking of No. 8.
Owing to her game as well as her winning personality, Bassett will be inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame on Wednesday night in Toronto. She is the first female tennis player to receive the honor. "It's such a thrill," she says. "My whole family, old friends, people I haven't seen in years but who were instrumental in my career will be there. I live in Florida, but I'm still very much a Canadian." The daughter of Susan Carling Bassett and John Bassett, a former Canadian Davis Cup player and minority owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs and the USFL's Tampa Bay Bandits, Carling had an aptitude for tennis that was quickly apparent. By age 12, she was the best player in Canada and decamped to the Bollettieri Academy. She turned pro after winning the 1982 Orange Bowl. Within a year, she was an international celebrity who had signed a modeling deal with Eileen Ford, played lucrative exhibitions all over the world and, bolstered by a U.S. Open semifinal appearance, was steadily climbing the rankings ladder. Bassett now reveals that she was also battling an eating disorder at the time. As the pressures mounted -- and, as she puts is, "I was wrapped into too many little worlds" -- anorexia and bulimia took over her life. "It was like a drug addict doing drugs," she says. "It affected everything: my practicing, my discipline, my sleep, my mentality. I was 15, 16, 17, and that's a real vulnerable area." Though it doesn't say so in any media guide -- alluding instead to "thumb injuries" and "time off" -- the disease ended up derailing her career. Her typical Bollettieri-bred baseline game and a strong will to compete presaged greatness. But her career peaked when she was just 18. By 20, she was out of the top 100. At 23, she was off the circuit. For perspective, Bassett is just a few weeks older than Nathalie Tauziat, who played the final singles match of her career last week in Munich. "Tennis was great to me," Bassett says. "But I do kick myself in the butt sometimes thinking how much better I could have been." A serial optimist, still as winsome at 34 as she was as a teenager, Bassett doesn't lose too much sleep over the arc of her career. Early retirement set the stage for the life she has today. At age 20, she married doubles quasi-legend Robert Seguso. The next year she gave birth to her son, Holden. Daughter Carling and another son, Ridley, followed. The family lives in Boca Raton, where Robert is involved in real estate and Holden, 13, a world-ranked junior, trains at the Evert Academy. Bassett still plays regularly and serves as a commentator at the Canadian Open. Chat with her about the women's tour and she serves up a heaping plate of candid insights and opinions. Carling unplugged:
Sports Illustrated senior writer Jon Wertheim covers tennis for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Click here to send a question to his Tennis Mailbag.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
