{"id":400377,"date":"2026-01-08T19:45:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T19:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/400377\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T19:45:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T19:45:09","slug":"there-should-be-a-golf-tournament-for-tennis-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/400377\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThere should be a golf tournament for tennis players\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andy Murray plays golf every day after dropping his children off at kindergarten; Jimmy Connors, at 73, does it six times a week<\/a>; and Carlos Alcaraz picks up the clubs whenever he can \u2014 even during Grand Slams. The last time Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal were seen together in public, it was on an 18-hole golf course.<\/p>\n

Golf is an addiction for many current and former tennis players. Or perhaps a form of \u201ctherapy\u201d that helps them keep their nerves in check.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are several players who are under a five handicap. So there should be a golf tournament for tennis players, to see who wins.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea \u2014 which would surely attract plenty of interest and could be a marketing and social-media success for tennis<\/a> \u2014 was floated by Mexican player Santiago Gonz\u00e1lez.<\/p>\n

\u201cI usually play with my friends from the doubles circuit \u2014 the Americans, the British. Almost everyone plays golf. They\u2019re around three, four, up to eight or ten handicap. So we have fun whenever we can, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

The former world No. 7 in doubles explained to CLAY the main benefit of golf for athletes who spend most of their lives inside a rectangle of concrete, clay or grass: \u201cIn the end, you want to put your mind somewhere else. Golf is a sport where you\u2019re surrounded by trees, where it\u2019s just you and the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI do see it as a form of therapy, because it frees you from the stress of tennis and allows you to think about something else \u2014 even though you\u2019re still competing. Golf, even when played casually, demands mental strength. If you\u2019re a low-handicap player, you know that a couple of bad shots and your score won\u2019t be the same,\u201d Gonz\u00e1lez said.<\/p>\n

Alexander M\u00fcller<\/a> is another player who has recently fallen in love with golf: \u201cI\u2019m a very calm person, so missing shot after shot isn\u2019t a problem. It doesn\u2019t affect my head, luckily.\u201d<\/p>\n

In March, like Gonz\u00e1lez, he was invited to play Punta Espada, one of the most impressive golf courses on the planet, located in Punta Cana: eight of its holes run along the Caribbean coastline.<\/p>\n

Playing among palm trees with the turquoise colour of the water in the background is perhaps the golfing experience closest to a video game. The players competing in the Cap Cana Challenger were blown away.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnjoying this sport by the sea is very special \u2014 a privilege. Getting away from tennis for three or four hours to be here helps a lot,\u201d M\u00fcller told CLAY.<\/p>\n

\"PuntaThe iconic second hole at Punta Espada, the course visited by several players competing at the Cap Cana Challenger in the Dominican Republic in March \/\/ CAP CANA
\nPreparing for Wimbledon on the golf course<\/p>\n

Casper Ruud is possibly the most golf-obsessed active tennis player.<\/p>\n

The Norwegian, a three-time Grand Slam finalist, has a very particular way of preparing for Wimbledon.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy preparation for Wimbledon basically consists of playing golf. I feel more comfortable on the golf course than on grass tennis courts,\u201d he once said, with a touch of irony: \u201cGrass is for golfers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UK\u2019s Grand Slam is the only event the current world No. 12 plays on that surface, and he always schedules several tee times after Roland Garros. Much of his golfing activity is documented on his dedicated Instagram account: @casper_golfer.<\/p>\n

Speaking about golf, Ruud once told CLAY that there is something worse than facing Rafael Nadal in a French Open final: playing him on a golf course.<\/p>\n

The Norwegian has experienced both situations and came to the conclusion that, with a club in his hand, the Spaniard is even more competitive than he was with a racket: \u201cHe\u2019s very, very competitive. Even more competitive than on a tennis court.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Grand Slam title\u2026 thanks to golf?<\/p>\n

One thing Juan Carlos Ferrero will surely miss after his professional split with Carlos Alcaraz is their golf outings together, often shared with major figures from the sports world.<\/p>\n

During Wimbledon 2025, the Spaniards played with Murray, who acted as the local host. At the most recent US Open, golf became a recurring topic around the world No. 1.<\/p>\n

\"\"Alcaraz, focused on his role as a golfer \/ OPEN DE ESPA\u00d1A DE GOLF PRESENTED BY MADRID<\/p>\n

After every win, Alcaraz celebrated by mimicking a golf swing with his racket. What started as a nod to Rory McIlroy \u2014 who was present during the early days of the tournament in Flushing Meadows \u2014 turned into a tribute to the sport that accompanied him closely during a campaign that ended with his sixth Grand Slam title.<\/p>\n

To conclude that those frequent trips to the 18-hole course provided an escape that helped Alcaraz win the 2025 US Open would not be far-fetched<\/a>. That was the view of Sergio Garc\u00eda, one of his golf mentors.<\/p>\n

\u201cProbably playing golf with Juan Carlos (Ferrero), with David Puig and with me helped him a bit that week as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCarlos needs to be happy, relaxed, fully charged, to feel free. Golf helps him achieve that<\/a> \u2014 it helps him disconnect. Just like tennis helps me disconnect from golf,\u201d the 2017 Masters champion told CLAY.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andy Murray plays golf every day after dropping his children off at kindergarten; Jimmy Connors, at 73, does…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":400378,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[212983,3581,64,63,212984,51612,755,42989,212985,964,965,6952,85,747],"class_list":["post-400377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-alexandre-muller","tag-andy-murray","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cap-cana","tag-casper-ruud","tag-golf","tag-jimmy-connors","tag-punta-espada","tag-rafael-nadal","tag-roger-federer","tag-sergio-garcia","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=400377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400377\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/400378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}