Bothwell has no regrets as he quits pro tour
PETER Bothwell has announced his retirement from professional tennis at the age of just 24.
The Hillsborough man, who has been based at the Soto Academy in Spain for the last six years, will now turn his attention to a new career in coaching.
Bothwell should have plenty to offer on that front after a successful stint as a professional on the tour which saw him travel across the globe, reaching an alltime high in singles of just outside the world’s top 600 in 2018.
He won eight doubles titles and enjoyed his finest hour at individual level when he achieved a lifetime ambition of lifting the prestigious Irish Open title just under two years ago in Dublin.
The Irish Davis Cup player says he didn’t take the decision to hang up his racket lightly and thought long and hard about calling time on his pro career.
He certainly had plenty of time to consider his options during the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic when he was confined to his Co Down home since last playing on the tour in early March at a tournament in Portugal.
He says he will be eternally grateful to his parents Louise — who played at Wimbledon when at her peak — and Nigel, who supported him throughout his career since he left Dromore High School to head to Spain.
Ironically, Bothwell should be in a position to receive more money from the latest chapter in his sporting life than he did during his touring days, such is the chasm in earning potential between the Grand Slam players, who are multi-millionaires, and the rest, who struggle to make ends meet.
“This period, when I spent so much time at home, let me reflect on my career as a whole,” he said.
“Unless you are ranked in the world’s top 150 to 200, you can’t break even financially, and the reality is that if you lose a first round match on the Futures Tour you pick up a cheque for €100, and if you win the tournament you get €2,500.
“But it costs between €500 to €1,000 for every week you’re on tour depending where in the world you are, and more than that if you decide to bring a coach.
“The prize money at the top is going up and up, and that’s fair enough, but at the bottom end it’s the same as it was 20 years ago, so it’s tough.
“I am very grateful for what my parents have done for me and I felt it was time to do things off my own bat and to take more responsibility for my life.
“Obviously with no funding available, it was very difficult coming from here, and I felt that I just wanted to display a bit more maturity.
“It was easier when I was going week-to-week on the tour thinking about the next match, when you don’t really get the time to reflect on what you’ve done and what you want to achieve.
“So I think this time (during the pandemic) has been really good for athletes to assess what they are doing wrong or what they want to improve on; personally, I have learned a bit more about myself.”
Bothwell admits there were times when he felt lonely on tour, which he found tough not only financially but also mentally, but he has no regrets and knew what he was letting himself in for.
“I knew when I was setting out at 17 or 18 what the realities were going to be like; I knew I would be travelling by myself but it was what I wanted to do,” he added.
“Sometimes you’d be sleeping on an airport floor before catching another flight to the next tournament, for example, and there wasn’t one tournament when I didn’t share a hotel room to save money, many times with strangers who didn’t speak English.
“But I was fully committed to that journey and I absolutely wouldn’t change anything.
“The grind is super tough out there but that fuelled me every day.
“However, I had to ask myself did I really want to go back out onto the grind and, when I added all these things up, I am not sure that I really did.”
Bothwell says that playing Davis Cup tennis for Ireland was always a career highlight but he’s looking forward to the new chapter in his life.
“I was always a huge team player, going back to when I played rugby at school,” he recalled.
“There is nothing better than representing your country and pulling on the green jersey was always a very proud moment for me. The atmosphere we had in the changing room with emotions running high was special and I managed to have a couple of good battles against good players.
“But moving into coaching should be an easy transition because I always knew it was what I wanted to do when I finished playing professionally.”