Dr Carolyn Broderick on destigmitising mental health issues in tennis (The Sit-Down)

Dr Carolyn Broderick joins Viv and Matt in Pod Laver Arena to give listeners an insight into her role as Chief Medical Officer at Tennis Australia and for the Australian Open. Hundreds of tennis players are soon to arrive in Australia in January, the majority from a Northern Hemisphere winter. It means they face a huge adjustment—after traversing multiple time zones—when they begin preparing and competing in the Australian summer. We learn about the “self-sufficient medical centre” that operates for four weeks at the AO, staffed by a multi-disciplinary team that offers physical and mental health services, plus annual scans and checks for players who might not be able to easily access these given their constant travel schedule. We also hear about Broderick’s roles with the Australian Olympic and Billie Jean King Cup teams, her work in academic and children’s health spheres, and how she juggles it all while pursuing her many passions outside of work.

Listen to the full episode here.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Switching gears a little bit. You've been involved with the
Billy Jenkin Cup team for many years. I think since
two thousand and seven would have been the highlights for you.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Oh look, there've been so many highlights. Well, we got
to the final one year, sadly didn't get the silverware
at the end, but it was a great campaign. I
think the highlights have been the players involved and also
the staff. And now, you know, when I started in
this role, Sam Stozer was a player, quite a junior player,

(00:36):
that's how old, and now she's the captain. So I
think just seeing that progression. We first saw Ash when
she was about sixteen and she traveled over the other
side of the world to meet us, and seeing her
progression and her amazing success has been great. Even seeing
Maya joint she was our orange girl this time last

(00:57):
year and now she's our top ranked player. I mean,
just seeing that has been great. It also gives me
an insight. I think it's important too in my role
at the AO is to get an insight into the
issues that these players face on the road, and I
get a lot of my intel from our Australian players there.
You know, what would would this sort of a service

(01:20):
be of benefit for you, or what are the advantages
and disadvantages of introducing certain medical services. So I get
my intel there as well, and I get to see
a little bit about what life is like on the
tour and how we may be able to help these
players come astray and open.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
Obviously you are supporting players a lot in a physical sense,
but what about the emotional side. Is that sort of
part of your role or at least a consideration. I'm
thinking about Storm Hunter last year when she had that
terrible injury at Billy Jenkin Cup, for example.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
Yeah, I mean that was devastating and it was so
exciting to see Storm win a tournament, big tournament last
week there too, after a really tough period there. But
I think absolutely the psychological side of it is just
as important. And you know, peak performance comes not just
with peak physical condition, but peak mental condition too. We

(02:18):
have other people involved in the organization who much more
experted it and than me have. We also have at
the Australian Open as sports psychiatrist who's on call the
whole time and historying this mental health workshop at our
Australian Open in twenty twenty six, doctor Ranjit Menon, who's
been a great resource. We also have our head of

(02:39):
Psychology at Tennis Australia, Michael Lloyd, is based up in Brisbane.
But being mentally fit is just as important as being
physically fit, and coping with injury is a really tough one,
particularly a prolonged injury. Coping with retirement is another one too,
because life changes considerably, and then just the stresses of

(03:00):
being on the road, and tennis players have some unique
stressors that maybe other athletes don't have, given that it's
an individual sport. They're not surrounded by a team, and
they're on the road from quite a young age, so
you lose a lot of your social support networks. So
we're mindful of those things and we really we've actually

(03:20):
just last week done a workshop for all our tournament
physios on mental health first aid and just recognizing when
people are struggling and just having the resources and the
links that we can direct them to.

Speaker 1 (03:33):
Mental health is actually a conversation with a lot of
players these days. Have you sort of found that it's
become more important over the years.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
Yeah, I don't know, it's always been important. What I
would say is that we talk about it more now,
which is a great thing. Actually. I think in the
past people have been reluctant to bring it up for
stigmatization reasons, but I think people are more It's not
completely destigmatized, but I think people feel much more comfortable
bringing it up, and we, certainly as practitioners, bring it

(04:03):
up too.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
Even if you'd like to hear the rest of our
conversation with Carol and Broderick, make sure you head to
the sit down wherever you're listening to this, or you
can find the links in the show notes.