If you are looking for an entertaining, exhilarating -- and, frankly, exhausting -- experience, check out Dominika Cibulkova’s Instagram account.
Her recent posts: A holiday in the Maldives with her husband and two children, products from BioTech USA, for whom she is an ambassador, a group shot of a trophy-winning team from the Dominika Cibulkova Academy, a Prada shopping trip with the girls in Cannes and a publicity shot in which she autographed the windshield of a Voyah car.
If that’s not enough, how about the glorious spread at her daughter Nina’s christening, a variety of outfits from her BabyJ children’s clothing store (named after son Jakub), pics of her husband Michal Navara’s popular Vespa Cafeteria -- and always, irrepressible Slovakian Domi Cibulkova, modeling clothes from the high fashion houses of Europe and promoting a dizzying array of items.
This is retirement from tennis? It’s quite possible that the 34-year-old is busier now than when she traveled the world in pursuit of a little yellow ball.
“There’s always something to do,” she said, talking a serious blue streak from her home in Bratislava. “People say, now after tennis, what do you do? I take care of the kids, I have my businesses, I have Instagram. I have a lot of commercials going on.
“I am not really bored. I am a very busy mom and everything is perfect.”
Cibulkova has always had an unnatural energy supply. Maybe it’s because she’s always had to try harder. She was a 5-foot-2½ -inch athlete (160 centimeters), the smallest in a forest of taller trees.
“You need to have something extra in you to be able to that,” she said. “When you see a smaller player, it’s natural to not be as aggressive, mostly running around the court, putting the balls back and waiting for the opening -- or mistakes.
“But I was the one aggressive, going for my points, killing the opponent on the other side. This was a little bit different in my game. I actually never saw myself so small against all these opponents.”
The numbers bear this out. Cibulkova produced a record of 450-299 (.601), won eight singles titles, collected $13 million in prize money and was ranked as high as No.4 among Hologic WTA Tour players. There was a diversity and versatility to her powerful game; she reached the final of the 2014 Australian Open, the semifinals at 2009 Roland Garros and the quarterfinals of both Wimbledon and the US Open.
Perhaps her greatest achievement on the court was winning the 2016 WTA Finals in Singapore. Cibulkova lost to World No.1 Angelique Kerber in her first round-robin match, defeated Simona Halep in the semifinals, then came back to beat Kerber 6-3, 6-4 in the final.
She and her coach, Matej Liptak, completely flipped the script by going against the scouting report.
“I love to play forehand down the line -- this is my shot when it gets tight,” Cibulkova said. “My backhand down the line wasn’t my favorite shot, but my coach told me, `You have to go outside of your comfort zone, and you have to do those things.’ This is what we change.
“I was sticking to it 100 percent, because I knew that otherwise she would be ready for all my weapons. I knew exactly what I had to do, and it worked.”
Four months before the tournament, she married Michal. After winning the year-end championship, she felt secure in her accomplishments and the idea of retirement -- and the possibility of children -- began seeping into her thoughts. The motivation that had driven her from childhood began to wane.
“We would complain in the locker room how hard it is to be a professional athlete,” Cibulkova said. “How we just want to enjoy, how we want to have babies. It took me two years to realize, `Yeah, it’s time to quit.’
“I had a great husband and we wanted to have a family and settle down. I don’t miss traveling at all. I don’t miss the competition, I don’t miss the stress around everything, counting points, winning the first rounds and the tournaments. To be honest, I was one of the lucky players.”
Today, Jakub is 3 years old and already in kindergarten. Nina arrived six months ago. There are a number of mothers on the tour -- and four-time major champion Naomi Osaka is expected back next year. People ask Cibulkova all the time if she’s coming back.
“Of course, I’m missing the tour,” she tells them. “All I did in my life was compete. Of course, I’m missing the winning feeling, the fans, the clapping, everybody adoring you -- and you are the best. But I know what it takes to get there and to be there constantly. It’s a lot of sacrifice and for me it would be, personally, impossible.
“And I’m not ready to give up my family and to do that.”
To understand Cibulkova’s place at home in Slovakia, consider that the central European nation has a population of only five million, roughly the same as South Carolina or Alabama. Bratislava, with 450,000 people, is by far the largest city.
Slovakian-born Martina Hingis, who went on to represent Switzerland, and Daniela Hantuchova, were the best female players produced by the country before Cibulkova. Now, she joins them on the podium.
For years, Cibulkova has been a staple not just in the sports pages but also the celebrity and gossip columns.
“Where you’re going, what you’re wearing and blah, blah, blah,” she said, laughing. “For some athletes, when they quit their career, you hear about them less, of course. But, for me, this is still going on and it seems like even more than when I was playing.”
The tennis academy was founded in 2008, long before she retired. Alumni include Elena Rybakina, Lukas Lacko and Kristina Kucova. Since Slovakia shares borders with Hungary, Poland, Austria, the Czech Republic and Ukraine, its prime location draws a number of students. They also come from as far as Japan.
“The tennis is not the only thing in my life,” Cibulkova said, “but the best thing in my life. I love mentoring the kids. When I come, they are really excited. The questions they are asking, they want advice -- and this is what makes me happy.”
Cibulkova loves to dress up and when Jakub was born she found it difficult to find fashionable clothes geared for young children. Thus, was BabyJ born not long after her son. Using her tennis connections, she made arrangements with French and Swedish brands and offers them today in Bratislava’s old town section.
Her husband runs Vespa Cafeteria, a chain of five Starbucks'-like coffee shops in Bratislava. There’s also The Velvet Bratislava, a bar/restaurant/club opening next year after renovations.
After mother, perhaps Cibulkova’s most important title is … influencer.
“I don’t like this influencer label,” she said, laughing. “Yes, I have some fans on IG and I talk to them. I am brand ambassador for many things.”
Which range from shampoo, health and beauty aids, an aesthetic clinic, protein bars, cars, a betting company -- and even a chocolate factory. All of these require time for photo shoots, videos and, in some cases, events with the sponsors.
While she has an agent to deal with contracts and the like, Cibulkova does not employ an assistant or secretary. And yet, after a 15-year career of navigating incessant global travel -- life on the road for more than 10 months a year -- intense training blocks, practice and match schedules and media obligations, Cibulkova has found a way to manage it all.
She has been asked to come aboard as a broadcast analyst, but said no. Last year, the folks at the All England Club wondered if she was ready to play legends doubles. After only four years on the sidelines, she declined but might say yes next year.
“When I talk to some of the other players now, we call our playing years the old, good times. I mean, we are really so old that we call our era the old, good times? I’m still stuck to the idea that I’m 23 years old.”
Ask Cibulkova about her career, her most cherished accomplishment, and she doesn’t mention a specific moment.
“Tennis gave me opportunities in my life and I wouldn’t change it for anything else,” she said. “I was good enough and actually lucky enough to do what I love and now I have the kind of freedom to do what I want.
“It’s really hard to be a professional athlete, especially a female -- that’s how I try to teach my kids that nothing in life is free. You have to work hard for everything you want. So tennis gave me a lot.”
