Incomparable diabetic

By Dr B. J. C. Perera
Specialist Consultant Paediatrician
Former nationally-ranked tennis player

The stage setting was the 2023 French Open Tennis Grand Slam Tournament at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from the 22^nd of May 2023 to the 11^th of June 2023. Alexander “Sacha” Zverev, a top-class professional tennis player, was playing a pre-quarter-final match. The competition was intense. He was 26 years old, seeded number 22 and had a current World Ranking of 27. He has suffered from insulin-dependent Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus since the age of three years and has a Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) for the use of insulin as a sportsperson. Insulin is in the list of banned drugs of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

He tried to inject himself with insulin on the tennis court and the organisers stopped him saying that it looked ‘weird’! He was asked to take a bathroom break to do it. A player is allowed two such bathroom breaks in a match and if he uses them up to inject insulin in a tough five-setter match, he will be at an unprecedented disadvantage. Besides, he may need to inject himself four to five times in a really tough match. In spite of all this, he went on to win the match and qualify for the quarter-finals.

Following this incident, there was an almighty furore from other players, as well as many international organisations, especially those dealing with diabetics, against the French Open Grand Slam organisers. They were mercilessly and quite rightly hauled over the coals and openly accused of endangering the life of the sportsman. They did not mince their words and cracked the whip quite harshly on the organisers. Tennis fans were furious and made it a point to say over social media that even more fuss should have been made over the mass media on behalf of the player.

In the face of such a tremendous backlash, the organisers had no alternative but to sheepishly capitulate and allow the player to inject himself on the tennis courts, in full view of the audience. They changed their minds about it being ‘weird’ perhaps! Yet for all that, they did not even have the grace to apologise to Alexander Zverev.

Alexander “Sascha” Zverev, born on 20^th April 1997, is a German professional player. He has been ranked by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) as high as world No. 2 and was continuously ranked in the top 10 from July 2017 to November 2022. Zverev’s career highlights include titles at the 2018 and the 2021 ATP finals, and a gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He has won 19 AEP Tour titles in singles and two in doubles, and reached a major final at the 2020 US Open, finishing runner-up to Dominic Thiem.

In August 2022, while recovering from a horrendous ankle injury he sustained during the French Open 2022 in June of that year, this iconic tennis player launched the Alexander Zverev Foundation from his own funds. The organisation was designed to support children with diabetes and provide medication for those with diabetes in developing countries with the condition. At the inauguration he said “Today, the Alexander Zverev Foundation has officially come to life, supporting children with type 1 diabetes and helping people prevent type 2 diabetes by living a healthy and active life. Our mission is to provide insulin and life-saving medicine to children in developing countries and those in need.”

As part of his announcement, he said, “As a Type 1 Diabetic myself, I want to encourage children with diabetes to never give up on their dreams no matter what others might say to you.” He ended with the quote “The only limit is the one you set yourself.”

Need we say more? It is so very inspiring for other people who are dealing with it to see one of the best tennis players in the world go out there and compete fearlessly in spite of his diabetes. It can, and definitely will, inspire others in the future who have diabetes to take up sports and perhaps inspire even more people. There are no drawbacks to him doing it on the court by playing at the highest level, even though he was told that injecting insulin on the court looked ‘weird’.

As medical professionals, we do salute Alexander “Sasha” Zverev as an iconic sportsperson, who will be a paradigm-shifting life-changer for those who suffer from diabetes mellitus.