"Happy to be unemployed"

With the spread of the corona virus in the world, where almost all sports have been postponed, Johanna Larsson is hardly alone in not filling the days with contests, trips or uploads. The difference is that she does it voluntarily.

- It became very special now with corona. Normally when you quit, everyone else's career goes on. But now it was almost an anti-climax, I stopped playing and so did everyone else, ”says the 31-year-old.

Since then, Larsson has mostly spent the days together with his partner fixing up with a newly purchased house outside Helsingborg.

She believes, like many others, that paused sports can have major consequences in their quarters. In tennis, not least for the players who are a bit below the top tier.

- The players who are ranked in the top 100 can do this without problems. But if you look at the players from 200-300 up to 1,000, those who invest wholeheartedly with small funds, there are no safety nets or clubs behind. I feel incredibly sorry for them, says Larsson.

- If you have no competitions to play, you do not go around financially. It's tough for many.

In this category there are Swedish players like Mirjam Björklund (ranked 331), Cornelia Lister (810) and Caijsa Hennemann (847) on the women's side. Among the men are Elias Ymer (ranked 201), Magnus Eriksson (316) and Carl Söderlund (835).

Johanna Larsson herself, ranked 236 in February, is pleased with the timing to close - even though the decision had nothing to do with the corona virus.

- It was really just luck. But it is nice to not have to stress that one's job was canceled. I have been able to lie on the sofa with good conscience.

For tennis in general, she thinks that the sport can get away easier than some others.

- It is not a contact sport and we will be able to play outdoors. It makes it easier to get started, other sports can hit harder, says Larsson.

She started the international professional career in the mid-2000s and entered the top 100 tennis players in the world in 2010. Five years later, she won her first singles title at the WTA Tour, at home in Båstad. Throughout the 2010s, she was one of Sweden's foremost tennis players on the women's side.

The title in Båstad is also something Johanna Larsson highlights as one of the greatest moments of his career.

- To take my first WTA victory in single and get it done for family and friends. The circle closed a bit there because Båstad was a reason why we moved from north to south to bet on the tennis, says Larsson, who was born in Boden.

Johanna Larsson does not yet know what to do in the future - but she does not rule out that she will remain in tennis.

- I want to feel a little free now in the beginning and not jump on a lot of things. I think it is very fun with tennis still and it would have been fun to be a little bit close. In what form we can see.