Australian tennis legend Todd Woodbridge is urging everyone to be vigilant with their health, after suffering a heart attack at the age of 51.
The 22-time grand slam champion suffered the heart attack while working out at home last Thursday.
“I’d done a bit of a warm-up, started to do some weights, and I got a bit of a feeling, like one finger being pushed into the middle of my chest,” he told Wide World of Sports.
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“I tried to shake it out, like you do sometimes, thinking it’s come from working out, but it wouldn’t go away.
“It started to spread across my chest. It wasn’t pain, it was like a heavy pressing. I was short of breath, got the sweats, I felt nausea which made me go pale white.”
The 1996 Olympic gold medallist went upstairs and spoke to his wife, Natasha.
”She was going to call an ambulance, but instead we went straight to our local hospital,” he explained.
“I knew it wasn’t just something minor. It was a big enough episode that I knew I needed to go to hospital.
But I think a lot of people will just think, it will be right. Don’t do that, for heaven’s sake.
“Thirty minutes later I felt OK, but my bloodwork showed I’d had a mild heart attack.
“A lot of people would have ignored those symptoms. Don’t do that, you’ve got to get on top of it.”
While he doesn’t look back and see any warning signs that were overlooked, Woodbridge does acknowledge he ignored his family history of high cholesterol.
“One of the things that really stood out when I was going through all my tests is that I had really high cholesterol,” he said.
“I sort of knew I would have that, but I hadn’t done anything about it over the last couple of years.
“That’s the thing a lot of people have been doing, they’ve just been putting it off, thinking they’ll be right.
“I should have been on top of that. Genetics plays a major part in everyone’s health, but people are ignoring the fact they can get on top of their own issues by being proactive.
“We’re not being smart enough.”
The Nine tennis commentator has had a busy schedule in recent weeks, with the US Open and Davis Cup followed by a trip to London for Roger Federer’s farewell at the Laver Cup.
While he says his workload wasn’t a factor, he’s urging people not to put off getting checked.
“I’m busy, but I like being busy. A lot of people have said that I do a lot of stuff, and my reaction is yes, but I don’t find that stressful. I like it,” he said.
“I feel like I manage my workloads well. I would have said I probably let myself down by not knowing where my cholesterol levels were, not knowing what I could have been doing.
“If I’d have been on top of it 12 months ago, I probably wouldn’t have had this episode.”
Fortunately, there’s no long-term adverse impact on his health, only a restriction on any heavy physical activity for a month and some medication.
“I’ll certainly be doing all my check-ups. I’ve got one in three weeks, in three months, in six months and in 12 months,” he said.
“I’ll be monitoring what’s happening a lot more closely.”
Woodbridge said the episode had reminded him he isn’t invincible, a point he’d like all Australians to be more aware of.
“The message is don’t put off what you’ve been saying you’ll do. A day becomes a week, which becomes a month, then six months and before you know it a year has gone by and you haven’t done what you need to do for your health,” he noted.
“The most important thing to remember is you need to do it not just for yourself, but for your family and your friends.
“They are the ones who’ll take it hard if something does happen.”
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