STARNBERG, January 3, 2020

Carlos Boluda-Purkiss, often referred to as the “new Rafael Nadal” in the past, has decided to hang up his racket. The 27-year-old Spaniard clinched nine titles on the ITF Pro Circuit, his last win came on home soil at the Copa Guadalquivir in Sevilla two years ago. He reached a career-high ranking of World No. 254 in May 2018.

“Taking this step has been a relief,” Boluda-Purkiss told Spanish tennis website Puntodebreak.com about his decision he made a month and a half ago. The Alicante native explained that he lost the most important thing: the illusion for what he was doing. “In February 2019 I remember that I had a terrible time. A psychologist had to help me. Maybe because of all the pressure I had in my career and the injuries I had to deal with.

“I really like tennis, that hasn’t changed, but I don’t want to go back to play Futures again. The world of Futures is getting worse and worse, they treat you worse and worse, they look very little for the player. You don’t feel like a tennis player, you feel like shit. My goal was to play on the ATP Challenger Tour, go up to play an ATP event, go down to the Challenger Circuit again, move around. If you are top100, everything is very nice, but not all of us can make it.”

Boluda-Purkiss, however, will remain on the tennis circuit coaching his girlfriend Nuria Parrizas, who is currently ranked World No. 233 and closed the year 2020 by lifting the trophy of the Magic Tours ITF World Tennis Tour W15 event in Monastir, Tunisia.

“She has always been alone on the circuit, so I decided to help her. If one of us had to help someone, I wanted to be the one to help, plus she trusts me a lot. I’ve always liked helping people, but before I couldn’t because I wanted to keep playing. Now I can, so there is no time to lose,” the Spaniard said.