Paula Ormaechea’s journey to get out of depression and find meaning in her life: “I thought it was all over”

Looks good Paola Ormechea. Calm. In peace. Happy and having fun in a way that until recently seemed almost impossible. It is that Sunchalense has lived through very difficult months this year, after losing her father Marcelo, one of the most important people in her life, who died in March of an aneurysm when she was 59 years old. “It was from one moment to the next. There was no way to say goodbyeHe said it in a heartfelt letter that he shared on his social networks.

that unexpected blow It plunged her into a depression from which she had a hard time getting out, but that today is the past. Because beyond the fact that the pain due to absence is still present, Paola smiled again. He had fun inside a tennis court again tennis. And, most important of all, rediscovered the meaning of life.

“I’m in a very good moment. I’m happy with the results of the last tournaments I’ve played, but above all with what I experience day by day and how I live it,” he said clarion the 30-year-old from Santa Fe and 168th in the world.

“It’s very nice to be on the pitch today and enjoying it, after what I went through not so long ago. That’s the point: it’s all still very new. Not only because of what happened with my father, but because of everything I went through after. The biggest victory is having fun and wanting to continue, because at one point I thought it was over“, he confessed.

Ormaechea surprised many when in mid-July he told on his Instagram account how much it cost him to mourn his father’s death. “I didn’t want to be strong, I wanted to go with him”he said at the time. In the end, he drew strength where he could and was able to keep going. On the one hand, because he allowed himself to “live his feelings about him” about him. On the other hand, because he has found a person who has been able to accompany him.

“I went through many phases, but I never hid what I felt, I never hid it. If I felt bad, I was bad. I worked a lot with my psychologist. I talked a lot. I was not afraid or ashamed to pronounce it. And little by little I got out,” he recalled.

“Honestly, at first I didn’t think I would be able to do it; I didn’t see the light. For me it was all dark and I just said: ‘I want to go’. Because experiencing so much pain is really, really hard. Today I can put myself in the shoes of others and say that I understand why some people who experience what I have experienced have a bad time and can’t get out of it,” he said harshly.

And he explained another of the reasons for coming out of the dark: “I was lucky. I had a friend of my life, a very important person by my side, who helped me a lot. Augusto (Arquez, president of the Tucumana Tennis Association) Is appeared in my life about a month before what happened to my father and was the person who knew how to take me best, because it is not easy to accompany someone who is suffering as much as I suffered. he was a guardian angel.”

Was tennis important in that process? I help you?

-The truth is that tennis hurt me a lot. It made me suffer a lot more. There was nothing that was good for me. There wasn’t a moment of the day when I said: ‘This is good for me’. I’ve been shaking all day. I felt panic, anxiety… I didn’t come to hate tennis, but I thought: ‘Why am I doing this?’. And I did it because it was automatic, because that’s what I do and since I didn’t know what to do, I got up and went to train. But I kept crying during training. I came home and cried. It was awful, very bad indeed.

-In difficult times like the one you’ve been through, many seek refuge in a new place, a different activity or sport. You did it?

-I think golf has been a refuge for me. The only thing I liked. I started practicing it at the end of last year and I really enjoyed it. I don’t know why I hadn’t met him before. And in those dark months, the only time she was comfortable was when he went golfing. I used to go with my music to hit the ball and get away from what I was experiencing. It was nice. It was all he wanted to do.

-Sometimes the importance of mental health care isn’t given until you suffer a stroke. Were you working towards that from earlier or is it something you started paying attention to this year?

-I’ve always worked on it, even though before, especially as a girl, I did it thinking a lot about sport. But for about a year and a half I had been working with my psychologist Miriam on my other stuff. Because before my father I went through a separation (Editor’s note: She had married Luciano De Cecco, a player on the Argentine volleyball team, in 2018), which was very difficult. And it was also all very together… For some time I had thought about doing it more for the ‘Paula person’, to try to be a better version of myself off the tennis court. This later affects the sport.

-Can you say today that you liked tennis again?

-I think it’s the first time I’ve enjoyed it like this. I didn’t even do it in 2013 (Editor’s note: Her best season, because she played her only WTA final in Bogotá and reached 59th in the standings, her best finish). At that time I was very young and the only thing I thought about was moving forward. I saw the numbers and thought about how to improve. Today is not based on ‘I won, I’m fine. I lose, I’m sick’. Today is doing the work and knowing that if it doesn’t happen this week, it can happen next week. I’m measuring success not in results, but in what I do. And that’s why I really enjoy myself on the pitch.

what’s coming

Ormaechea returned to play in Argentina in early 2022, after seven years. It was February at Tucumanin two tournaments of the ITF World Tour in which he reached the semifinals and the final. Her second was the last time her father accompanied her. Shortly after, that nightmare from which he recently emerged, after so much work, began.

In mid-October, she set foot again on the Tucuman Brick Dust to play another ITF, in which won his first professional title since September 2019. And that did him a lot of good.

“Playing in the country was very nice. At the beginning of the year I didn’t know if I would come, but I decided to. I will be grateful for all my life that I made that decision, because it was the last few weeks I had with dad. Having had it and enjoying it with me was everything. I saw it very well, very happy, beyond the results. And this is the memory I have of him, “commented the woman from Santa Fe, her voice breaking and her eyes wet with tears.

And he continued: «In October it was the same, because it was not in my plans. It started with a chat that annoyed Augusto, asking him for a joker card, and made the decision to play at the last minute. And it ended up being something beautiful. It was very difficult emotionally to go back to that place, because I saw my father everywhere and he wasn’t there. But it was also very nice to have experienced it with my mother and to have won a tournament again after a long time. Tucumán has welcomed me very well and, due to what happened with dad, it will always be a very special place for me.”

Sunchalense allowed herself another big surprise in her last tournament of this 2022: she reached the semifinals of the Argentina Open, the WTA 125 which held its second edition at the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis. Thus you close a year in which you have hit rock bottom with very positive feelings. And she faces 2023 – which started in Oceania, where she participates in the first edition of the United Cup with Argentina and in the Australian Open qualifications – with the same priorities as the year that is closing.

“Next year I project it like this 2022. I am giving myself a lot of priority. I know that if I am well things can happen; otherwise, however well I hit the ball, it is useless. Tennis has never stopped being a priority . I’ve been training a lot, working a lot in the dark, because hardly anyone sees or knows about it. I’ve never stopped training or playing. But to have found this version of myself outside of sports helps me a lot. I’m 30 and I won’t leave everything for tennis. I won’t leave my life for this. But I want to continue,” he explained.

And he closed: “The idea is to play more tournaments. And I’m thinking of leaving Europe and returning to Argentina, because I want to be closer, even if nothing has been decided yet. When you experience something similar to that that I lived year, you start to see life from another side. And this happened to me. I have a different maturity. Maybe when I was younger I put a lot of pressure on myself and winning was everything. But I don’t see it that way more and I enjoy it more”.

SA