Joe Salisbury: Anxiety prompts the Great Britain national team star to take a break from tennis

“It was difficult to deal with at times, which made me not want to play and compete at times throughout the year,” he said.

“There’s definitely a lot of stomach pain – you feel sick to your stomach. I’d struggle to sleep, and then, because of the feeling in the stomach, I’d have trouble eating well, eating enough.

“It’s like a feeling of fear — that something bad is going to happen.”

He may allow himself an occasional social success, but he will stop playing tennis until the spring.

Salisbury has a lot of plans, including a safari in Kenya, a ski trip with his girlfriend’s family, and Christmas at home – something not always possible for tennis players before the season starts in Australia in early January.

The current world number 10 has played this entire season with fellow Briton Neil Skupski, and although they have not won a title, they have finished runner-up in six events including the French Open, US Open and last week’s ATP Finals in Turin.

“I can’t say it affected my tennis practice to that extent,” Salisbury said of his anxiety.

“We’ve been playing well, especially in the last six months. I feel like I’ve handled it well and been able to put myself in good enough shape on the pitch to perform well in most of the matches I’ve played.

“But I think it takes extra emotional and mental effort to do it. That means it hasn’t been fun to be in a lot of the tournaments I’ve played.

“I haven’t talked to a lot of people about the difficulties I’ve had, especially my team, my friends and my family, so there aren’t a lot of people in the tennis world.

“I think a lot of people don’t want to share too much because they don’t want other people to know it, when you have to go and compete against them.

“But to be honest, I don’t really mind if people know it. I’m sure it’s something a lot of other people have to deal with and I don’t think it will have any effect on me, as if anything over the last year has made me stronger mentally than before.”