‘YOU FEEL SO EMPTY’

Top Women’s Tennis Player Details Battle With Bulimia

The world’s No. 4 said binging and purging was how she coped with disappointment and stress.

The No. 4-ranked women’s tennis player says she struggled with bulimia last year, using food to cope with on-court disappointment. “Everyone is different. Some will stop eating and for me it was the opposite,” Caroline Garcia told French outlet L’Equipe. “You feel so empty, so sad, that you need to fill yourself. It came from the distress of not managing to do what I wanted to do on court, of not winning anymore, of suffering physically.” Garcia, 29, who was the WTA singles champion last year, said it was easy to seek refuge in food while traveling. “Eating would appease me for a few minutes. We all know it does not last, but it was an escape route,” she said. “When you're alone, it’s harder to control. In tennis, you spend a lot of time alone in your room. It’s how it often happened.”