One of the hardest and most stressful things I experience whilst travelling with my daughter on the pro tennis tour is meal times. This might sound a little strange but for anyone reading this who has a food allergy, intolerance or worse still, a food related auto immune condition, you will understand that meals out anywhere, but especially in foreign countries, can be a seriously stressful experience.
I have met many players on the Tour who suffer with some kind of ‘food issue’ and it’s no joke. Players who have severe nut allergies; others who suffer from coeliac disease or Crohns (auto immune); players who are lactose intolerant or who are allergic to fish, the list goes on. How do these players manage to stay healthy, get the nutrition they need, and at the same time, play at the highest level? It’s certainly not easy. How do they manage to communicate their food allergies/intolerances to restaurant owners in foreign countries? How do they successfully avoid getting sick?
Speaking from personal experience, as an individual with coeliac disease, I can honestly say that any player with any kind of food allergy/intolerance, will have to deal with high levels of additional stress when travelling on the tour. Some of the tournaments do try to cater for/assist those with food related issues, but the majority do not, especially on the ITF tour, where meals are typically not provided. Countries such as China, Turkey, the UAE and India, for example, do not (yet) really understand (or even identify) illnesses that severely limit food intake, so it is extremely hard for players with food related issues to effectively communicate their needs, and meal times become somewhat of a lottery.
So what does a player do if she has a food related illness? Well, she can try taking some basic food supplies with her, but some countries do not permit you to enter the country with food items, unless you declare them on entry (and that is a major hassle). And, if a player is travelling for a significant number of weeks, how can she bring enough to food for the amount of time she is away? Of course there might be supermarkets near to the tournament venue but reading food labels in foreign languages is far from simple.
Another issue is the nutritional content of the food a player can travel with. For me, the majority of ‘safe’, gluten free foods, are more ‘snack like’ and often have a high sugar content, which is far from ideal. Nutritional supplements (WADA approved ones of course) can assist with vitamins and minerals lost through a restricted diet, but it is harder to find good sources of protein and carbohydrates. If really struggling with a menu, I typically ask the restaurant if the chef can make me a plain omelette or some grilled chicken with rice, but even a simple request like this can be refused. Whilst in China last year, I survived for two weeks on plain rice and hard boiled eggs – boy, was I glad to get home!
Players with nut allergies, have to be particularly vigilant when they are eating on tour. Even the slightest trace of nuts can cause an anaphylaxis episode which can be deadly. I know some players who simply choose not to travel to tournaments in India and the Far East through fear of ingesting something that contains nuts. That’s particularly tough during the ‘Asian Swing’ when the majority of the high level tournaments are in countries which are not super aware of such food issues.
There are cards people/players can carry which outline (in a variety of languages) what their allergies/intolerances are, and of course there is Goggle Translate (I rely on this one a lot), but still things can get lost in translation, or kitchen staff can forget or not be super vigilant at avoiding cross contamination when preparing the food. Then, as a result, the player/person in question can end up very sick. This happened to me only recently, at the US Open in New York. Whilst in the players restaurant I ordered a gluten free pasta with chicken – exactly the same meal as I had had (without issue) the day before. The chef cooked the meal in front of me, with newly washed utensils etc . However, he must have been distracted when he added the pasta, as unbeknown to me at the time, the pasta I was given (or something else in the meal) contained gluten. The result – a night spent with my head down the toilet and several weeks of other gluten related health issues afterwards.
Of course, some of the top level players are able to travel with a nutritionist, a chef even, but spare a thought for all the others who rely on (foreign) third parties to make sure their food is safe and they do not get sick.
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