Американский теннисист, 407-й номер рейтинга ATP Эван Кинг поделился в Instagram для «Behind The Racquet» историей о страхах, которые он пережил в молодости, когда столкнулся с убийствами на расовой почве в США, пишет Sports.kz.

Спортсмен рассказал, что в 2015 году в США прогремело несколько громких убийств на почве расы, и это сильно повлияло его на жизнь. Он стал бояться, что может стать следующей жертвой. Дошло до того, что Кинг начал гулять по кладбищу несколько раз в неделю.

«Эти чувства длились несколько месяцев. Со временем я нашел способы справиться со своими мыслями. У меня была отличная команда людей, которые не давали мне гулять по чертовому кладбищу. Я вернулся в тур. С тех пор я совершил множество международных поездок. Я один из немногих американских игроков, которые предпочитают играть за пределами Америки. Я чувствую себя безопаснее, прогуливаясь по улице в Казахстане или Боснии, чем в некоторых местах, в которых я путешествую в своей стране», — написал Кинг. 

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“Early 2015 was a dark time for me. I had decided to quit professional tennis, get out of that bubble and enter the real world. With that lifestyle change came more time to consume everything outside of the professional tennis world. Around that time, there were a few high profile race-based killings in the United States. The murder that received the most publicity was Trayvon Martin. There were a lot of others that didn’t grab mainstream media’s attention but these stories kept repeating themselves with no real change. ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ I came to the realization that any one of those killings could have been me. I could have been that kid walking back from 7/11 wearing a hoodie and getting Skittles or more recently, I could have been Ahmaud Arbery going for a run in a white neighborhood. I was 22 and I was starting to think about what I was leaving behind in the world if my life ended unexpectedly. I thought I wanted a kid, strictly to leave something behind if I died. To make sure my family lineage didn’t end with me. ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ I felt lucky to be alive. I started taking walks in the cemetery multiple times a week. I would look at the tombstones and get emotional if the deceased were younger than me. I felt a shot clock on my life, way sooner than normal. My goal was to make it to 25 and the rest I considered borrowed time. ⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ These feelings lasted a few months. Over time, I found ways to cope with my thoughts and to numb that outlook I had on life. I had a great crew of people that kept me from walking through the damn cemetery. I went back on tour. Since then, I’ve done a ton of international travel. I’m one of the only American players who prefers to play outside of America. I feel safer walking down the street in Kazakhstan or Bosnia than some of the places I travel to in my own country.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣ I’m sharing all of this now with the hope that people reach out to their crew and their loved ones to make sure they’re ok. This is a wild time and you don’t know who is affected or how they are affected.” @evankingchicago #BTR ⁣⁣ Go to behindtheracquet.com for extended stories, podcasts, and merch.

Публикация от Behind The Racquet (@behindtheracquet) 4 Июн 2020 в 10:00 PDT