3 minute read
Former Wimbledon junior champion Todd Reid, who died last month, will be among those recognised at Tennis Australia's Newcombe Medal awards on Monday night.
Tennis Australia will remember the late Todd Reid at Monday night's Newcombe Medal amid attempts to step up its welfare program for troubled players.
A former Wimbledon junior champion and one-time Davis Cup player, Reid died last month, aged 34.
He had battled pancreatitis this year after glandular fever, then injuries conspired to send the former junior prodigy into retirement at just 21.
Ranked as Australia's No.3 behind only Lleyton Hewitt and Mark Philippoussis in 2004, Reid will be honoured in a touching visual tribute at Australian tennis's night of nights in Melbourne, where Reid's sister Renee will represent the family.
But it will be TA's efforts to extend its health and wellness program to ex-players that will most please the Reids, who had grown frustrated by the lack of support for their struggling son.
Former Newcombe Medal winner Sam Groth has been assisting TA with its health and wellness program, which, until now, has only been accessible to current players.
As well as applauding Nick Kyrgios for the mercurial talent's decision to seek professional help to "get on top of" his mental demons, Groth sympathised with Reid's tragic plight.
"It's a sad thing for Todd's family and the tennis world that we lost someone so young but also someone who did give a lot to our sport and represented our country," Groth told AAP.
"It's the hard thing about tennis and how individuals - and we talk about Nick - are out there by themselves.
"I think sometimes when you fall out of that limelight and you're not in the front of people's minds straight away, you lose that support network around you day to day.
"It's hard going."
Groth endured his own struggles early in his career, taking time out to play Australian rules football in Victoria, before returning to become a Davis Cup regular for Australia.
The retired star acknowledged tennis could be isolating at the best of times, let alone post premature retirement, and said TA was determined to improve its wellbeing programs.
"It's hard and I know they're trying to be better with it. It's a process and about where can you get your resources from," Groth said.
"Everyone thinks it's an endless, bottomless pit and it's really, really sad that this has happened and there was probably nothing there for him (Reid) through that time.
"But going forward, I know they've got a wellness guy in place, Ben Robertson , and I've done a little bit of talking with him about how we can prepare guys for when that transition comes because for some guys it comes a lot sooner than others - and unexpectedly."
