Himself moving from bubble to bubble since cricket's resumption amid the coronavirus pandemic, England seamer James Anderson feels athletes opening up on their mental health issues in recent years is a positive thing.
During the pandemic, mental health concerns have forced Naomi Osaka to pull out of the French Open and Wimbledon, US gymnast Simone Biles to withdraw from five out of six events in Tokyo, and Ben Stokes to take an indefinite break from cricket.
"Well, I think it affects people very differently. There are different pressures that come with being successful in your sport.
"Certainly from Ben's point of view, he has been through a lot in the last few years, he has played a hell lot of cricket," Anderson said during a virtual media interaction on Monday.
"What is positive from all of this is that in the last few years, it has definitely become okay or more okay to talk about it and be open with your feelings and your problems."
Recently, the USA's multiple Olympic gold medallist Biles had pulled out of the team and all-round individual events at the Tokyo Olympics, citing mental health concerns.
Anderson, who made his Test debut way back in 2003, recalled that when he started out, if someone spoke about mental depression, it was seen as a sign of weakness.
"Certainly when I started, especially from a male athlete's point of view, maybe it was seen as a weakness if you came out and spoke, talked about it, (probably) with the pressure of various things.
"So, I am grateful that now it has become okay to talk about it and be open," said Anderson, who has played 162 Tests and taken 617 wickets.
The England seamer, who will open the attack in the Test series against India, is also hopeful of his teammate Stokes coming back stronger.
"From our point of view, with Ben, we hope that he comes back stronger, gets the rest that he needs and the help that he needs and comes back as a stronger cricketer, because he is an incredible talent that everyone in the world wants to watch," Anderson signed off.
The first Test match between England and India will be aired on Sony Six, Sony Ten 3 and Sony Ten 4 channels from August 4, starting 3.30 PM IST.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Dear Reader,
Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.
We, however, have a request.
As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.
Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.
Digital Editor